


Of Monsters and Stars

by StreetSoldierin



Series: Of This and That [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Adopted Children, Aged-Up Character(s), Alpha Iwaizumi Hajime, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Arranged Marriage, Bad Parenting, Boys In Love, Casual Sex, Character Death, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Cold, Complete, Domestic Fluff, Drinking, Drunken Confessions, Fainting, Falling In Love, Fanart, Fire, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Getting Together, Godzilla - Freeform, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sex, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Iwaizumi Hajime is a Good Boyfriend, Japanese National Team, Jealousy, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Good Friend, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Marriage, Married Couple, Minor Injuries, Mutual Pining, Oikawa Tooru's Knee Injury, Omega Oikawa Tooru, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Overworking, Pining, Pro Volleyball Player Oikawa Tooru, Prom, Promposal, Scars, Sharing a Bed, Short One Shot, Sickfic, Surprise Party, Swearing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding Fluff, Weddings, Whump, Winter, a one shot a day keeps writer's block away, fictober writing challenge, fictober19, iwaoi edition, oikawa can't cook, the boys are bad at feelings, will add tags along the ride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2020-11-22 04:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 44,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20868215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StreetSoldierin/pseuds/StreetSoldierin
Summary: One Iwaoi one shot for every day of October.All Trigger Warnings are in the tags and are always listed in the notes before every chapter that they apply to.





	1. "It will be fun, trust me."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which the boys ride a roller coaster and Iwaizumi realizes some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna hear about my multi-chap Iwaoi fic which I'm currently working on, check the notes at the end of the chapter!

Iwaizumi wasn’t pouting. Of course he wasn’t, he had never pouted in his life and he certainly wouldn’t start now just because he had lost that stupid bet and Oikawa was making him ride that ridiculous roller coaster.

Whatever. It was not like he’d never ridden a roller coaster before. Sure, this one seemed to be particularly high and had an unreasonable amount of loops and twists, and Oikawa was having way too much fun going through that near-death experience as did Makki and Mattsun, but Iwaizumi was tough. If the rest of the idiots could handle this thing, so could he.

Still, the feeling in his stomach wasn’t very pleasant, and as the staff members started walking through the rows to check on everyone’s safeguards, Iwaizumi was positively cursing himself for ever placing that stupid bet. Of course Oikawa had been able to get that guy’s number within five minutes.

It shouldn’t have surprised him, his best friend was annoyingly attractive and a natural people person, and if he was being honest with himself then he had known from the beginning he was betting on the wrong horse when he said he didn’t think Oikawa could do it. But maybe, just maybe, something deep within him had desperately hoped so. Maybe something inside him was rejecting the idea of Oikawa flirting with someone else, making those eyes at random strangers, touching another shoulder in a self-assured and teasing manner. But sitting here now and seeing the doors open to reveal blue painted rails leading far too steep upwards into the sky, he regretted everything.

It was no use to be bitter about something that was just Oikawa’s nature. The other was brash and cocky and he laughed in the face of those rails threatening to shoot him up into the sky. Oikawa was a force of nature, and Iwaizumi was an ear of wheat caught up in his storm, never breaking, but not able to withstand either.

“Hey.” Iwaizumi looked over where his best friend was sitting next to him, eyes bright and a smile playing around the corner of his mouth. “Are you good?”

Iwaizumi hummed in response, not trusting his voice not to give up his panic.

Oikawa chuckled slightly and reached out to take Iwaizumi’s hand, sending sparks through the latter’s veins as he squeezed. “It will be fun, trust me.”

Before he even had the chance to respond, the roller coaster surged forwards and pulled them up, up, up in such a fast manner that Iwaizumi felt as if they were reversing gravity. Makki and Mattsun were already whooping in joy, and Oikawa’s eyes were closed, he laughed at every loop, every turn, giggling like a child as they were thrown around in ways the human body hadn’t been designed for.

The ride took far too long and when it finally halted and they got out, Iwaizumi’s legs weren’t feeling as steady as he wished they would. But when Oikawa asked him how he liked it, staring at him with these bright, wide eyes, Iwaizumi found that it hadn’t been as bad as he had expected for two reasons:

Firstly, he had been far too busy staring at Oikawa laugh to really register what had happened around him, too enchanted by this loud and carefree laugh that surely could shake kingdoms to the ground.

And secondly, more importantly: They had held hands this entire time.

And as Oikawa sauntered off on his new mission to get cotton candy, he didn’t let go.

* * *

This amazing fanart was done by Sarah (@sgergaud.dsg on instagram, make sure to go and give her some love!)  
Thanks a million, this is still the best thing that has ever happened to me!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leaving kudos and/or comments will literally make my day!
> 
> If you want to check out my insta where I post writing aesthetics and updates on one huge ass Iwaoi multi-chap fic I'm writing, come say hi!  
My username is **streetsoldierin**
> 
> The long fic I'm working on has about 70.000 words right now and I can't wait to get to editing! On my insta i post regular updates and there'll definitely be some sneak peaks, so stay tuned!
> 
> Lots of love xx


	2. "Just follow me, I know the area"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa totally isn't lost and Iwaizumi is in for a surprise.

Oikawa was a stubborn person, that was nothing new, but this took it to a whole other level.

Iwaizumi had been following him around for at least half an hour now, taking turns and “shortcuts” and wandering around the streets with no apparent destination.  
Except that they _had_ a destination and Oikawa had insisted he knew where to go, and that’s how they got into this situation.

“_Just follow me_, he says,” Iwaizumi grumbled as he pulled his jacket tighter around him to keep the cold at bay that was biting its way through his layers of clothes. “_I know the area_, my ass.”

“I can hear you, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whined, turning his head a bit to look at the other. Iwaizumi could see that his cheeks and nose were turning pink from the cold, and he scoffed.  
“Good! We’ve been wandering around forever and I bet you have as much of an idea of where we are as I do! Let’s just ask for help, damn it!”  
“Rude! I know exactly where we are!”  
“Oh yeah? How long until we arrive then?”  
“Shouldn’t be too long, just a few turns.”  
Iwaizumi groaned in frustration. “That’s what you said fifteen minutes ago! Just admit you got lost!”  
“I did not!”  
“Did too!”  
“Did not”  
“For the love of fuck,” Iwaizumi cursed. “What are you now, eleven? If we don’t get to this prize giving ceremony on time coach will hand our asses to us, you know that! So quit playing, either we ask someone where to go or you just use your damn phone since you’ve been checking it for every two seconds anyway!”

It’s true, along the way Oikawa had glanced at his phone every other moment, but instead of using it to navigate had always let it disappear back into his pocket.  
“I’m not playing,Iwa-chan, just follow me, okay?”  
“I’ve been following you through half the city already, and I’m pretty sure we’ve been walking in circles at least twice!”  
“I know what I’m doing!”  
“Even worse!”

“Iwa-chan!” He dragged out the a in his name and made it sound like a plea. “Just trust me?”  
“It’s fucking freezing!”  
“Please?”  
“Oh you know what, what the shit ever, Trashykawa! If we end up missing this I am full on blaming you!”

Oikawa grinned like the idiot that he was. “Yes! Come on, I promise it’s not far anymore!”  
“Sure thing,” Iwaizumi grumbled but still tagged along - it wasn’t like he had any other choice.

They were in one of the smaller streets of the city now, none that Iwaizumi was familiar with but since there was increasingly more green around, he suspected they were moving towards the outer bounds of the city where there were more parks.  
“Oi idiot, isn’t the ceremony-”  
He didn’t get to finish his sentence, because before he could do so, they walked around a corner and his breath caught in his throat.

“What… what is this?”  
Oikawa smiled at him and reached out, taking his hand in his. ”Surprise?”

They were at a park entrance that lead into one of the bigger parks, and usually there was a huge archway marking the gate.  
Today, though, the archway was illuminated and someone had draped garlands all over it. That wasn’t the weird thing though.  
There were four purple neon sign letters that had been fixated there, shining so brightly nobody in a twenty meter radius could miss them.

And to put the cherry on the cake: The letters spelled out “Prom”, followed by a huge purple question mark.

“I…” Iwaizumi didn’t really know what to say and he turned to Oikawa, too stunned to think clearly. “Did you do this?”

Oikawa chuckled again. “Well, I don’t see anyone else standing around with their boyfriend waiting for an answer.”

Oh. “Shit. I mean, yes, yes, of course.”

“Romantic as ever,” Oikawa teased and leaned in for just a quick peck on the lips. “You wanna go in?”

“Did you plan even more?”

“Well, there might be a picnic waiting.”

Iwaizumi chuckled and followed him towards the archway, the shock slowly wearing off. He wasn’t usually shaken this easily, but his boyfriend really had managed to take him by surprise this time, and he couldn’t say that he minded it at all.  
“Are we ditching this ceremony stuff, then?”  
“I spoke with coach and he gave us his okay. We wouldn’t have done much anyways other than standing around and being pretty, and we might just as well do that here. I bet my food is better than the banquet anyways.”

Iwaizumi stopped dead in his tracks. “You cooked?”

Oikawa turned around, quirking an eyebrow before he sighed. “No, I asked Mattsun to help me out.”

Iwaizumi let out a breath. “Thank the heavens.”

“Rude!” Oikawa nudged him forward again. “Now I’ll think twice about giving you that chocolate!”

“Nah you won’t.”

“Will too!”

“Are we really starting this again?”

They looked at each other for a few moments and then burst out laughing simultaneously.

“Come on, let’s get that chocolate.”

But just as they were about to pass through the archway and enter the park, there was a loud squeal behind them and they turned around.  
A boy and a girl had walked up, and from the shining eyes of the girl as she pointed at the neon sign above them, it was pretty obvious what had happened.

The boy stared at the sign for a few seconds, then back at the girl who had thrown her arms around him and hugged him tightly, and a smile spread out on his face as he hugged her back.  
His gaze started wandering, searching until it found Iwaizumi and Oikawa. The latter chuckled and gave the boy a thumbs up, to which the boy replied with a grin.

“Come on, let’s leave them to it,” Iwaizumi said and tugged Oikawa along. The idiot was grinning all proudly.

“Who would have thought I would become a matchmaker?”

Iwaizumi was never going to hear the end of this. “Oi, idiot, you wanna focus on your own date maybe and not on someone else’s?”

“Aw, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa cooed and threw an arm around Iwaizumi’s shoulder. “Don’t be jealous, I promise you have a hundred percent of my attention now.”

“I’m not jealous, idiot,” Iwaizumi muttered, but his hand snaked its way around Oikawa’s waist nevertheless. “How did you get that neon sign up there anyway? Wouldn’t have a poster been easier?”

“I have my ways. And I thought about a poster too, but you know…” He grinned. “I figured someone as oblivious as my beloved boyfriend might need something more distinct.”

The day was destined to end in one hell of a tickle war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leaving kudos and/or comments would be amazing!  
Thank you xx
> 
> instagram: @streetsoldierin


	3. "Now? Now you listen to me?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one were Oikawa gets hurt.

It happened so fast that Iwaizumi needed a few seconds to process what had happened.

It had been a peaceful day of training so far. Coach was sick, but the team had still met up and practiced like they usually did, with Oikawa conducting the exercises.  
They had settled for three-on-three practice matches, and right now it was Oikawa’s time to serve.

One moment, Oikawa jumped up into the air, palm hitting the ball with immense force.  
Just a mere second later, there was the sound of a body hitting the floor and a cry.

Iwaizumi’s legs moved before his eyes fully registered that Oikawa was lying on the floor.

He dropped down next to him, hands gripping shoulders. “Idiot, what happened?”

“It gave out,” Oikawa gasped and his chest heaved with strained breaths. “My knee gave out.”

Other teammates ran over, but all of them knew better than to crowd in on them, so they stood back and eyed them with worry in their eyes. Iwaizumi knew Oikawa hated those kind of stares, so he angled his body so Oikawa wouldn’t have to meet their eyes.

“Idiot,” he cursed again and looked around him quickly. “Can you stand?”

“I… ugh!” Oikawa gritted his teeth but pulled himself up into a sitting position. “Give me a hand.”

Iwaizumi gripped his arm and pulled him to his feet in one swift movement, but when he realized how hard Oikawa was gripping on to him, he decided not to let go but put a hand around his waist in support.  
“I’m fine.”  
“I’m not dumb, don’t think I don’t see that you can’t even put weight on that leg.”  
Oikawa shifted his weight a bit but grimaced when he started using his right leg for support and quickly leaned on Iwaizumi again. “Yeah, no.” He huffed. “Iwa-chan, I think I’ll follow your advise and see a doctor about this.”  
“Oh really, now? Now you listen to me?” Iwaizumi growled, but started leading Oikawa off the court anyways. “It literally took you to fucking collapse to realize that?”

He didn’t even wait for an answer but turned to his teammates instead who were still staring at them with wide eyes. “I’m taking him to the hospital. Makki, Mattsun, you’re in charge here for the rest of practice. Make sure to clean up after, everyone, and for the love of god, no more injuries today!”

They left the gyms under the subdues murmurs of their teammates, and Oikawa chuckled, though it sounded a bit strained. “You are such a mom, Iwa-chan. See you tomorrow, everyone!”

There was a bit of laughter in response, and Iwaizumi settled for just growling at Oikawa instead of rapping him over the head. The idiot probably was in enough pain as it was.

They exited the gym and somehow made it to Iwaizumi’s car where Iwaizumi dropped Oikawa off in the passenger seat and then rounded the car to get in on the driver’s side.  
When he was seated behind the wheel, he looked over to his best friend and his heart clenched painfully as he saw the tears in his eyes. It must have taken a massive amount of self-control to hold it in for so long, but Oikawa was a master in controlling his emotions after all.  
Not here, though, not now that it was just the two of them.

“Hey.” He reached over to grab Oikawa by the shoulder, and the other immediately gave in and leaned over until he was settled against Iwaizumi’s side. The tears had started falling now, though silently.  
“Tooru,” Iwaizumi started again, voice softer this time. “It’s okay.”  
“What if it’s not, though?” He sounded choked up. “What if they tell me it can’t be fixed?”  
“If it comes to that, we’ll deal with it.”  
“I don’t wanna go.”  
“Don’t be stupid, now.” Iwaizumi gave his shoulder a light squeeze. “You can’t just ignore this anymore. I’m here with you, and we’ll figure it out, whatever it is.”

They just sat in silence for a bit. Iwaizumi held Oikawa and let him cry, because he knew this would be the only time he would do so, and he probably needed to let it out.

When the small sobs finally died down, he squeezed his shoulder again. “You ready?”  
“Not really,” Oikawa sniffled, but followed up with a chuckle. “But you know, I’m beginning to think I should listen to you more often.”  
Iwaizumi scoffed, but ruffled Oikawa’s hair which earned him a screech. “Was about time you realized that.”  
“Rude!”  
“Oh shut up.”

He started the car and drove off the parking lot. Oikawa was looking very pale and the tears on his cheeks were still drying, but that frightened expression in his eyes had disappeared.  
After about ten minutes, he spoke up again. “Hey, Iwa-chan?”  
“What is it?”  
“Thank you.”

Iwaizumi furrowed his brow, glancing at Oikawa before fixing his eyes on the road again. “What for?”

Oikawa took a moment to answer. “For not saying ‘I told you so’.”

“Tch,” Iwaizumi scoffed. “I didn’t need to. You’re smart enough to know how stupid you were.”  
“That… makes sense in a really weird way?”  
“Of course it does!”

Of course Iwaizumi could have rubbed it in his face, could have harped on about the fact that he had literally told Oikawa for weeks to go see a doctor, but he couldn’t even bring a simple ‘I told you so’ over his lips.  
Because seeing Oikawa on the ground like that, lips pressed together in pain and eyes opened wide, it had scared the shit out of him.  
He didn’t care that this was Oikawa’s fault in a way for allowing it to come this far, he didn’t care this could have been prevented if he had just listened.

All he cared about was to never see that expression in his best friend’s eyes again.

“Hey, Shittykawa?”

“Yeah?”

Iwaizumi glanced at him quickly again, eyes meeting for a fleeting moment before he turned to the road again, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

“You’re gonna be okay.”

He would make damn sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll love you forever if you leave kudos and/or comments!  
Thanks xx
> 
> insta: @streetsoldierin


	4. "I know you didn't ask for this."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Oikawa is a prince being married off to Iwaizumi, and boy, he is not happy about it.

“Listen…”

Oikawa was shaking with rage. He didn’t want to listen, he didn’t want to turn around and face the man standing behind him. All he wanted to do was scream. Or run. Maybe both.

“You could at least look at me, you know?”

“_At least_?” Oikawa hissed, finally turning around just so the other could see the rage in his expression. “That’s _the least_ I can do? I am literally giving my entire life to you, you arrogant prick! And what for? I’ll be ripped away from everything I ever knew and loved just so you can have a pretty armpiece to brag about, so don’t you dare tell me playing nice is the least I can do!”

“That’s not…” Iwaizumi furrowed his brow. “You make it sound like you’re going to prison.”

“I might as well.”

“It’s just marriage. It doesn’t even mean anything, all you’ll do is move away from home.”

The room they were in seemed way too small now, as if the walls were closing in on them.

“No, it doesn’t mean anything to _you_,” Oikawa hissed. “Because you’ll go on living your life like you always have. You can go wherever you want, do whatever you want, and even fuck whoever you want, nobody will care, all while I’m being stripped of my title and expected to play your pretty little pet like some common bitch!”

“We’re taking vows! What kind of man do you take me for to think I would just break them like that?”

“I don’t take you for anything, you ass, and you know why? Because I don’t even know you. All I know is that you’ll remain crown prince and heir to your parent’s throne while I exchange my title for _husband_, which makes me nothing more than a peasant. Oikawa Tooru, heir to nothing, prince of nowhere.”

“That’s not-”

“And you? You’re not losing anything! I’m nothing more than a trophy, and as you said, this marriage means nothing to you so you might just as well speak those vows and then lock me away. Tell me, _Iwa-chan_…” The cute nickname rolled off his tongue in the coldest way possible. “…do you already have another lover? Because god knows people won’t care about you taking concubines, but me? I step out of line and our countries go to war. You’re not only taking my life, you’re taking my entire future and every shot at love I ever had. So tell me again how this is no big deal.”

Iwaizumi didn’t respond right away.  
His brow was still furrowed and he tapped his fingers against each other, until finally he clenched his hand into a fist and stepped forward.  
It took Oikawa all his self-control not to flinch away when a hand landed on his shoulder, and he hated himself for it.

“Listen to me.” Iwaizumi’s eyes bore into his, serious and urging. “I know you didn’t ask for this. If I could, I’d let you be, but that’s not my decision to make, so the only thing I can do is make this bearable for you.”

“Why bother?” Oikawa growled, but it came out a lot softer than he intended.

“You’re right in saying you don’t know me, but you’ll soon find I’m a man of my word. I won’t take those vows and then just cast you aside. You’re not an armpiece, and you’re not a trophy, you’ll be a king by my side and I’ll treat you like one.”

Oikawa glanced to the hand on his shoulder. It was warm and heavy, and he focused on the pressure of it to ignore the stinging sensation that was building up behind his eyes. “You don’t even know me.”

“We can change that. Or not, if you don’t want to. Our parents are forcing us into this, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let them enslave you.”

“What… do you mean?”

“I can’t stop the marriage, but it doesn’t have to be awful. I don’t know what you think of me, but… I’m not cruel, so if you’re to be my husband, then I want you to be happy, and I’ll do what I can to ensure that. You are not just some pretty face to me. I want us to be equals.”

“You want me to be happy, huh?” Oikawa was still staring at the hand. “What if that meant I never wanted to see you again?”

Iwaizumi’s tone was soft, and the mix with his gruff voice sent shivers down Oikawa’s spine. “I really hope that’s not how it’s going to be.” He paused. “But if that’s what it takes, I’ll move to the other end of the castle, or maybe the garden house.”

Oikawa’s eyes snapped up, and he met the other’s stare. “Are you serious?”

“Of course I am. We’ll do everything on your terms after the marriage. I won’t touch you, I won’t talk to you, I won’t even look at you if you don’t want that.”

“You just said you wouldn’t just cast me aside.”

“Don’t twist my words now. I said I’m a man of my word, and I stand by that, so I’ll take my vows and I’ll hold true to them. I’ll be faithful.”

That made Oikawa’s eyebrows scoot upwards in surprise. “Even if I don’t talk to you?”

“Even then.”

“Wow.” He needed a second to process what was happening right now so he just resigned to staring at the other until he took his hand off his shoulder slowly.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“I’m just trying to figure something out.” The air in the room was breathable again. Somehow this guy had managed to get the oxygen back in here, and Oikawa wasn’t sure what to think of that.

“What exactly?”

“Well… I can tell when people are lying. Which you aren’t. So you meant what you said, and that makes you seem like an actual decent guy.”

Iwaizumi chuckled, a deep rumbling sound from his chest. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“Considering I know your parents, and the fact that I was picturing you as an entitled, pervy brat the entire time, yes.”

“Okay, fair enough.” He offered up an arm to Oikawa. “May I accompany you to dinner, then?”

Oikawa eyed the arm for a second before he sighed and took it. “Sure, thing… Iwai-” He frowned. “Ugh, no. I can’t call you Iwaizumi, that reminds me of your father. I’ll go with Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi raised a brow. “My parents will absolutely hate that.” And then, slowly, a grin started spreading on his face. “It’s perfect.”

And after all, Oikawa thought that maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t be as horrible as he had pictured it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leaving comments and/or kudos will definitely put a smile on my face!  
Thanksxx
> 
> Insta: @streetsoldierin


	5. "I might just kiss you."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Iwaizumi deals with feelings.

Iwaizumi knows that some things in life are complicated.

Getting Oikawa to calm down when he’s in one of his caffeine-induced hyper sugar rushes, for example.

Sitting all his friends down for long enough to have an actual study session before one of them starts gossiping and all school work is forgotten.

Trying to uphold his study plan but failing because he’s invited to yet another movie night and of course he has to go or otherwise Oikawa will whine his ear off.

Those things are complicated.  
And he thought that love was, too.

Because how the hell do you tell your childhood friend you’ve been in love with him for years now? Testing a bond that strong is scary, because sure, their friendship seems unbreakable, but what if his confession does destroy it?  
What if the unbreakable breaks? It would hurt so much more than cutting feeble ties.

Of course he couldn’t have fallen for that cute guy in maths class, or the one he sees every morning in the coffee shop that keeps flirting with him.  
No, it had to be Oikawa.  
And deep down he knows, it always was going to be Oikawa.

So yeah, that is complicated.  
Until it isn’t anymore.

Until one day, Oikawa and he are in Iwaizumi’s room, bickering about what movie to watch, and without even realizing it they’re both inching closer, hands brushing together occasionally, thighs bumping against each other.  
It happens so gradually it’s barely noticeable, but soon they’re sitting right next to each other, bodies touching, breaths held.  
It’s quiet for a minute.

And then, Oikawa breaks the silence. “I might just kiss you.”  
“W-what?” Iwaizumi stutters, and he’s sure his ears are just pulling a stupid prank on him.  
But Oikawa continues, “We’ve been walking on eggshells for far too long, don’t you think, Iwa-chan?”

And then his hands are on Iwaizumi’s neck, pulling him closer, pulling him in, and just like that their mouths press together and Iwaizumi is lost in the sensation of rough lips and the after-taste of green tea.

It seemed so complicated, a wall too big to climb, but right here, right now, as Iwaizumi is coming undone in Oikawa’s arms, he realizes it’s not like that at all, it’s almost like an instinct, like this is how it’s destined to be.

Love itself may be complicated, but loving Oikawa is the easiest thing in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading xx If you leave kudos and/or a comment, that would be amazing!
> 
> Insta: @streetsoldierin


	6. "Yes, I'm aware. Your point?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Oikawa goes to prom without a date... or does he?

Oikawa Tooru was a force of nature.

He made heads turn, he was loud and brash and flashy, and whenever he walked into a room, all eyes were drawn to him.  
His laugh could shake the walls, and his tantrums made everyone in a hundred meter radius flee.

Truth was, he polarized.  
Everyone either loved or hated him; there was nobody at school that didn’t know him because his presence was way too strong for that.

Oikawa Tooru was Aoba Johsai’s shining star.  
And therefore, everyone was even more surprised when he arrived at prom without a date.

Weeks before, girls had practically started competitions to see who would ask him out, but all of those who tried had been kindly turned down by Oikawa saying he already had someone to go with.  
Wild speculations started spreading like fire, and though there were a thousand theories, nobody ever found out who that mysterious date was.

So when prom night arrived, everyone was even more curious to see who Oikawa would bring.  
But when the doors opened and the boy walked in, there was no girl accompanying him at all, and whispers started.

__

_“Why would he come without a date?”_  
_“Did he lie to us?”  
_ _“Maybe she’ll arrive later. Look, Iwaizumi-san didn’t bring anyone either.”_

Oikawa, oblivious to the whispers as always, took in the sight before him with sparkling eyes. He loved these kind of events, with dimmed lights and a rhythm thrumming through the air and people chattering, dancing, being free and careless.  
Iwaizumi wasn’t as fond of it, but this was prom so he couldn’t exactly skip out.

They strolled over to the bar to get something to drink, greeting people as they went, though neither of them noticed the wondering stares just yet.  
Not until Makki and Mattsun approached them.

Makki was waving his arm frantically, his eyes blown wide. “Holy shit, Oikawa, what are you doing?”  
Oikawa stopped, looking down at his glass of strawberry punch and then back at Makki. “Drinking? You didn’t spike this, did you?”  
“That’s not what I’m talking about! Ugh, Mattsun, tell him!”  
Mattsun looked around to see if anyone was listening, but the music was making it hard to understand anything anyways. “Oikawa-san, this is prom.”  
“Yes?”  
“And everyone expects you to be prom king this year.”  
“Um… yes?”  
“And you are usually expected to bring a date to prom.”  
Oikawa sighed. “Yes, I’m aware. Your point?”

“You idiot,” Makki chimed in again. “You basically told half the girls in our school you already had a date! They’ll go on the barricades for that! What were you thinking, dude, if you’re gonna lie about not wanting to go with them at least be smart about it!”

Oikawa furrowed his brow and looked back and forth between Makki and Mattsun. “What are you talking about? I wasn’t lying.”

“Sure looks like it, since you arrived alone!”

“I didn’t…” He turned to Iwaizumi, and his eyes narrowed. “Iwa-chan, you aren’t wearing the rose!”  
Iwaizumi groaned. “I never said I would.”  
“Give it here!” Oikawa stretched out his hand, and Iwaizumi grumbled, but pulled out a turquoise rose from his pocket and handed it to him.

“You see,” Oikawa said as he turned to Makki and Mattsun again, who had followed the interaction with raised eyebrows, “I wasn’t lying when I said I already had a date.”  
He tucked the rose back into Iwaizumi’s breast pocket and made sure it stayed put before leaning back with a self-satisfied smile. “See, Iwa-chan, that’s better.”

“Wait,” Makki said, eyes darting back and forth between the turquoise rose and Oikawa’s same-colored tie and flower bracelet he was wearing. “Wait wait wait, is this what I think it is?”

“Iwa-chan is my prom date,” Oikawa beamed and pulled Iwaizumi in with an arm around his shoulders. “I asked him weeks ago, and he said yes! I mean, of course he did, this is me we’re talking about.”  
“Stop boasting, dumbass,” Iwaizumi growled and rapped Oikawa over the head which earned him a whine.  
“Iwa-chan, my hair!”

“So,” Mattsun started, still looking completely lost, “is this like a platonic date, or…?”

Oikawa let up from trying to fix his hair and didn’t even hesitate before putting his hand on Iwaizumi’s neck and pulling him in to press their lips together.  
When they broke apart, he was grinning widely and Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. “This look platonic to you?”

“Oh my god,” Makki choked out and started shaking Mattsun by his shoulder. “Are you seeing this? It finally happened!”  
“Took you long enough,” Mattsun agreed, but a grin was spreading out over his face too.

The whispers around them started up again, louder than before, urgent, gossip spreading at a rapid pace.  
But everything was swallowed up by the sound of the music, and even if Oikawa had heard, he wouldn’t have cared.  
He was here at prom with the boy he loved by his side, and it was all he ever hoped for.

They danced through the night, all four of them after they convinced Iwaizumi it wouldn’t be as horrible has he thought, and they were right, it wasn’t.  
It was a good feeling, to get lost in the music, to follow the rhythm and nothing else, a crowd of people united with one drumming sound, and they never wanted it to end.

Of course all eyes stayed on Oikawa that night, but he wasn’t alone, and he didn’t care. When he was crowned prom king he wore the crown on a head held high, eyes glistening and daring anyone to insult him.  
Nobody did.

He danced his dance with the prom queen, and then excused himself to get back to his boyfriend. When he got back to Iwaizumi, he threw his hands around the other’s neck, crown askew, and pulled him in for a kiss so deep Iwaizumi wasn’t sure it was still suitable for the public.  
Neither of them cared, though.

Oikawa Tooru was a force of nature, his love was as fierce as an incoming storm.  
And Iwaizumi didn’t try withstand that storm, no, he welcomed it with open arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
Leaving a kudo and/or comment will make me very happy! xx
> 
> Insta: @streetsoldierin


	7. "No, and that's final."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Oikawa gets sick.

“Iwa-chan…”

“No.”

“Iwa-chaaaan…”

“No!”

“Pleeease, Iwa-chan?”

“I said no, and that’s final!” Iwaizumi glared at the mess in front of him also known as Oikawa Tooru.  
His friend had managed to catch a persistent cold, and even though he was down with a high fever, he still insisted on going to that stupid alien movie premiere.  
Iwaizumi couldn’t even tell if he was just being stubborn or already delirious.

“But we had this planned forever.”

“Yeah, well, plans change. Maybe you should have thought about that before running around in the pouring rain.”

“Hey,” Oikawa pouted. “You were running with me!”

“But I’m not the one sweating through two layers of blankets while shaking from the cold now, am I?”

“That’s just mean.”

Iwaizumi sighed. “Listen, Shittykawa, your mom will murder me if she hears I took you to the movies in this condition. Besides, do you really wanna sit in a stuffy room full of people for two hours while coughing your lungs out?”

“I’m not-” Oikawa’s face twisted and he sneezed, which only made him pout more. “Iwa-chan, make it go away!”

“It’ll go away on its own if you just lie down and shut up and drink your tea.”

“But I wanna see the movie!”

“Oh for the love of-” Iwaizumi took a pillow from Oikawa’s bed and hit him in the face with it, making him screech. “We will see the damn movie, just not today!”

“You can’t hit me, Iwa-chan, I’m sick!”

“Oh? Two minutes ago you were ‘perfectly fine’ and ‘fit enough to run a marathon’.”

Oikawa grumbled and threw the pillow off himself so it hit the floor. “Okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit. But it’s just not fair, we had these tickets for so long and it was supposed to be a cool movie date and I wanted to wear the alien shirt you bought me and you could have worn that little Godzilla button and we would have gotten popcorn and…”

“Shittykawa,” Iwaizumi interrupted. “We’ll go on that movie date, okay? But today, we’ll set up your laptop and drink tea and you can be all gross and sick without worrying about it.”

Oikawa went quiet for a minute, considering, and then he sighed melodramatically. “Okay.” The statement was followed by a light kick to Iwaizumi’s side. “I’m not gross, though.”

Iwaizumi snorted. “Look at you. You’re all disheveled and snotty and you cough every two seconds. Also, I am so changing those sheets before getting on that bed, they look drenched.”

“You’re so rude,” Oikawa whined, but started to get off the bed so they could strip off the dirty sheets. When he made to stand though, he staggered, and Iwaizumi caught him by the arm quickly to keep him from toppling over.  
Oikawa sighed and let himself flop against Iwaizumi’s chest. “This sucks.”  
“Tough luck,” Iwaizumi replied, but hugged him close to steady him. “Sit down on the desk chair, I’ll make the bed.”

“Iwa-chan?”

“Yes?”

Oikawa looked up with his reddened eyes from where he was leaning against Iwaizumi’s chest, and it was an unfamiliar sight for the latter to look down to his normally taller boyfriend.

“Do you still love me even when I’m gross?”

Iwaizumi couldn’t help but chuckle at that and he sat Oikawa down on the desk chair, pressing a kiss to his hairline. “Of course I do, idiot.”

“Even when my hair looks like this?”

“Especially when your hair looks like this,” Iwaizumi said and ruffled through it as if to prove it. “That messy looks suits you. Here.” He grabbed Oikawa’s glasses from where they were lying on the desk. “You don’t have your contacts in, do you? I don’t want you squinting at the screen the whole time if we’re gonna watch something.”

“Thanks,” Oikawa murmured and put his glasses on.

A pang of affection rang through Iwaizumi’s chest as he looked down at his boyfriend. Of course he hated the fact that Oikawa was sick, but seeing him like this with the messy hair, disheveled clothes and a shirt that hung off one shoulder loosely - now that he thought about it, that looked suspiciously like one of his own shirts - and the glasses that Oikawa never wore in public, it made a warm feeling spread through him because he knew he was the only one allowed to see Oikawa in this state, and he was damn proud of that.

A few years ago, when he first started noticing that his feelings towards Oikawa weren’t just best friend feelings anymore, he never would have imagined it would turn out like this.  
And yet here he was, stroking the back of the boy he loved as the other fell into yet another coughing fit.

“I’ll change your sheets now, and then I’ll make tea and set the laptop up. Anything you want to watch?”

“Can we watch X-Files?” Oikawa replied, eyes wide and pleading, and Iwaizumi huffed because honestly, he should have seen this coming. But Oikawa was sick, so he guessed he deserved some special treatment.

“Sure, whatever.” He pressed another kiss to Oikawa’s forehead and stepped back. “Now focus on getting well again, dumbass. We have a real movie date to go to.”

“Will you wear your godzilla button?”

Iwaizumi closed his eyes and sighed. This boy was going to be the death of him.  
“Whatever you want, Shittykawa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave kudos and/or a comment, it'll totally make my day! xx
> 
> Insta: @streetsoldierin


	8. "Can you stay?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Oikawa's parents are homophobic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for Homophobia in this one. No explicit slurs though.

“Iwa-chan, you might have been right,” Oikawa said, sipping on his iced coffee as he stared down on the city lights.

It was a warm summer night, and they had just come back to Oikawa’s apartment after running to the coffee shop before it closed to get him his much beloved iced coffee which he insisted he couldn’t live without these days.  
Sometimes Iwaizumi was tempted to just test out that theory, but then again, life would be way too quiet without the damn idiot.

“You’ll need to specify.”

“Telling my parents might not have been the best idea.”

Iwaizumi frowned, turning to look at Oikawa who was now leaning down on the railing of the balcony with his forearms, holding his coffee in his right.  
“You came out to them?”

Oikawa hummed and nodded. “Called them this morning.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

A shrug was the answer. “I didn’t really feel like talking about it yet. I don’t want to waste the time I spend with you on stupid things like that.”

It was true they couldn’t see each other as often now that university was keeping them both busy, but they still met up whenever they could (basically one of them slept over at the other’s place every weekend).  
Today was a Tuesday, so Iwaizumi had his free day and Oikawa only had classes around noon, so they had met after to spend the rest of the day together.

“If it upsets you, it clearly isn’t stupid,” Iwaizumi said and stepped closer, taking his place next to Oikawa and turned his eyes towards the city lights, too.

“I’m not upset,” Oikawa replied, and Iwaizumi scoffed. It was a mystery to him how Oikawa really thought he’d still be able to lie to him after all these years.

“I’m not! I always knew they wouldn’t take it well, so this isn’t exactly a surprise.”

“Doesn’t make it better.”

“I can handle it.”

Iwaizumi sighed and bumped his shoulder against Oikawa’s. “I never said you couldn’t. But it’s fine not to be okay after something like this, y’know? Talk to me.”

“Ugh, it’s just… They could at least try to pretend not to be so bothered by it, right? Like if they don’t like it, whatever, I just don’t get why they can’t even try and play nice.”

“What did they say to you?”

“Just the usual, you know.” Oikawa shrugged seemingly nonchalantly, but Iwaizumi noticed how tense his shoulders were. “How disappointed they are. That this isn’t how they raised me. Reputation, shame, blah blah blah.”

“I’m sorry.” He stepped a bit closer again so their shoulders were pressed together now.

“What are _you_ sorry for? It’s them being prejudicial assholes, not you.”

“Still. I wish I could keep you from getting hurt like that.”

“It’s not hurting me, Iwa-chan, it’s just annoying.” They both knew he was lying, but apparently he wasn’t even trying to hide it because a moment later his eyes found Iwaizumi’s and he asked, “Can you just… can you stay?”  
Iwaizumi understood the underlying message without asking. _I don’t want to be alone tonight._

“Of course.” He never could deny Oikawa anything, even though he acted like he was annoyed with him most of the time. It was never serious, it was just how he was.

“Thanks,” Oikawa muttered and turned his attention back to his coffee. “Can we watch X-files?”

“Don’t push your luck now,” Iwaizumi grumbled, but his voice had no bite and he already knew they would end up doing what Oikawa wanted anyways.

They stood in silence for a bit, shoulders still pressed together, and Oikawa sipped his coffee occasionally, sometimes making small humming sounds in the back of his throat.

It always amazed Iwaizumi how easily fooled people were by Oikawa’s facade - the fake smiles, the fake cheerfulness and cockiness - because if one paid attention close enough, Oikawa was really easy to read.  
From the small sounds of contentedness when he drank his coffee, over how he breathed harshly out of his nose when he was hiding his anger beneath a smile, all the way to how his shoulders tensed when he smiled through his pain.   
Then again, maybe Iwaizumi was just so used to watching him that he had more practice than others in seeing those little things.

Like right now, how Oikawa was clutching the coffee cup a little too hard.

“Let’s go inside,” Iwaizumi said. “It’s getting cooler out here, and some idiot thought it would be a good idea to drink iced coffee in the middle of the night.”

“Tch,” Oikawa replied, but turned around to follow his request anyways. “It’s late evening, Iwa-chan, not night. University really messed up your sleeping routine.”

“You mean it improved it. I know this hasn’t registered in your tiny brain yet, but being up until you collapse from exhaustion isn’t really ideal.”

“Works for me.”

Iwaizumi sighed and kicked him in the calf as he left the balcony behind him. “Sure it does. Get the TV ready, I’ll make some tea.”

Oikawa let out a small cheer and scrambled over to the little shelf where his beloved X-File DVDs were sitting.

Iwaizumi watched him, shaking his head, but still a small smile crept upon his face.

Oikawa might be an idiot, sure, a self-destructive, chaotic idiot, but he was Iwaizumi’s favorite person in the world, and neither workload from university nor some bitchy homophobic parents would change anything about that.

Oikawa was his soulmate, and that was how it had always been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leaving kudos and/or a comment will make me love you forever!  
Thanks xx
> 
> Insta: @streetsoldierin


	9. "There is a certain taste to it."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Iwaizumi is stressed out and Oikawa cooks.

The first thing Iwaizumi smelled when he came home was a faded, burned scent.  
It wasn’t strong, but clearly there, so he opened the door to the two-room apartment cautiously and stepped in.

“Shittykawa? Did you burn your bedroom down? I told you you need to blow your candles out when you’re not there to watch them.”

Since autumn was slowly arriving in town, Oikawa had his annual craze of diving into every fall trend he could get his hands on - that meant a lot of pumpkin spice lattes, fall decoration everywhere, and of course, Oikawa’s beloved scented candles that made the whole apartment smell like cinnamon and roast apple.  
Iwaizumi couldn’t say he minded, but if Oikawa burned a hole in the carpet, he was in for a serious telling-off. Their rent was expensive enough as it was.

Iwaizumi kicked off his boots and stepped further into the apartment, just as Oikawa came out of the kitchen.  
His hair was tousled and he wore an apron that read “World’s best mom” on the front - Iwaizumi’s apron that the Seijoh volleyball team had given him as a parting gift.

“You got flour on your cheek,” Iwaizumi commented and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Did you _cook_?” That was certainly new.

“No need to sound so surprised,” Oikawa pouted and retreated back into the kitchen, Iwaizumi at his heels. “I can cook, you know? I just don’t see the point when everything you make literally tastes like heaven.”

Iwaizumi raised his eyebrows. “Did I just hear a compliment coming out of your mouth?”

“Oh shut up. All our friends are always swooning whenever you cook, there’s no denying that even if I wanted to.”

Iwaizumi chuckled and shook off his jacket to hang it over the back of the chair, and then started getting plates from the cabinets and setting the table.  
“What did you make, anyways?”

“Yakisoba. It’s the only thing I could think off without a recipe.” He set the pot on the table and started distributing the food onto their plates. “Which reminds me, our wifi is still down. I called the company again and they said they would send someone to fix it tomorrow.”

Iwaizumi groaned. He had two projects due next week and he really couldn’t afford not having any internet connection, so that meant he’d have to have yet another early session in the library tomorrow.  
Judging from the sympathetic look Oikawa shot him, he was well aware of that too. They both sat down and started eating, and after two bites Oikawa said, “I have morning classes tomorrow, so I’ll get up with you.”

“Don’t be stupid, Shittykawa, your classes start way later. At least one of us should be getting enough sleep.”

But if Oikawa was one thing, it was stubborn. “Nah, it’s fine. You’ve been working your ass off lately, so what kind of boyfriend would I be if I let you suffer all on your own? I bought thermal mugs today, so I’ll make some tea tomorrow morning and you can take it to the library with you.”

Iwaizumi looked down at his plate, then up at Oikawa. “Is that what this is about?”

“What,” Oikawa pouted, “I can’t cook for my boyfriend once in a whole?”

“Hmm,” he hummed teasingly, but a warm feeling was spreading in his chest. “Yeah, I guess you can.”

“Tch,” Oikawa made, but he was hiding a smile when he lowered his head to start eating again. “Just don’t collapse from all the stress, yeah?”

“Takes a lot more than a bit of workload for that,” he replied and went back to eating to, but then he remembered what he had smelled earlier when entering the apartment. “Oi, why did it smell like you were trying to burn the house down?”

The yakisoba was actually decent - which meant Oikawa must have put a lot of work into it - but that still didn’t explain the burned smell.

Oikawa flushed. “Uh, nothing. Just let the pot on the stove for a bit too long.”

“Liar. I’d be able to taste it, then. What did you do?”

Groaning, Oikawa got up and opened the oven, revealing something that might have resembled a pie at some point in its existence. “There, happy? I tried to heat it up and then forgot about it.”

Iwaizumi couldn’t hold back a chuckle as he got up and crouched in front of the oven, inspecting the mess inside. “Was that pumpkin pie?”

“It was store bought, anyway,” Oikawa mumbled and Iwaizumi stuck a hand out, broke a piece of and tried it.

“Well, there is a certain taste to it.”

“Oh shut up and finish your yakisoba, you dick. I’m never cooking for you again.”

But he did cook again.  
The next day, and the day after, and the day after that.

And as stress wore Iwaizumi down and sleep deprivation and exhaustion started seriously taking its effects, Oikawa was there.  
He made him tea, brought him snacks, carried his bag home from the library and he bullied him into going to sleep whenever the late night study sessions got out of hand.

And when the exams finally were over and all projects were finished, Iwaizumi came home to the apartment smelling like actual, non-burned pumpkin pie.

That night, they went to bed early and Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa close, holding him tight. His boyfriend chuckled softly. “Missed me?”  
“Shut up,” Iwaizumi mumbled and buried his face in Oikawa’s neck. He was right, though, he had missed these lazy evenings, just cuddling up and not worrying about a thing. But Oikawa had got him through the stressful time, and he didn’t even want to imagine how horrible it would have been without his boyfriend by his side.

“Tooru?”

“Hm?”

He pressed a kiss behind Oikawa’s ear. “Thank you.”

Oikawa hummed quietly. “Go to sleep, Iwa-chan.”

It was the best round of sleep Iwaizumi had gotten in a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading xx  
Leaving comments and/or kudos will literally make my day!
> 
> Insta: @streetsoldierin


	10. "Listen, I can't explain it, you'll have to trust me."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Iwaizumi has the weirdest friend in the world.

“What the hell is this about?” Iwaizumi huffed.

The air was cold and from the way the clouds looked, he could tell they were soon going to have the first snow of the year.  
Normally he didn’t mind taking walks in this cool, crisp weather; but being dragged around the blocks by Oikawa for no apparent reason for _two hours_ was a whole different story.

“You’ll see,” Oikawa replied. He hadn’t stopped grinning ever since they had left the house, so Iwaizumi can already tell he is up to something. That, and the fact that every time he suggested going back home, Oikawa had put him off with another bad excuse.  
The idiot really still thought he could lie to Iwaizumi in any way. Stupid.

“Listen, Shittykawa, my hands are going to freeze if we keep wandering around forever. Either you tell me what exactly it is we’re trying to accomplish here, or I’m going home.”

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, and the grin made way for one of his signature pouts. Iwaizumi hated it, because the asshole knew damn well he couldn’t say no to that face.

“Just… at least give me a hint here?”

Oikawa huffed. “Listen, I can’t explain it, you’ll have to trust me. Please?”

Of course he would sport the puppy eyes in this exact moment. What a fucking asshole.

“Whatever,” Iwaizumi grumbled. “But if I get sick, you’re so gonna make it up to me.”

“Suuure thing, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa purred - like he was some goddamn cat or something, humans shouldn’t even be allowed to make sounds like that!

They continued wandering the streets and Oikawa babbled nonstop about anything and everything - and even though Iwaizumi mostly replied in huffs or by rolling his eyes, he really enjoyed listening.  
When Oikawa talked like this, it was really hard not to get lost in the joy in his eyes and voice, because these moments of him being completely careless and happy were rare, and Iwaizumi wanted to soak the feeling up every time.

Sure, Oikawa was a cheery person per se, but whenever other people were around he always put himself under a certain pressure and always was so careful about what he decided to say, even though nobody noticed most of the time. He had really mastered the skill of coming off as a confident talker.

Iwaizumi didn’t like the act he put up, didn’t understand why his friend always made so sure to please other people and to control their impression of him, but he also knew it was really important to Oikawa so most of the time he didn’t say anything.

He still loved these moments though, when they were alone and Oikawa felt safe enough to let go. They had known each other for way too long for there to be a need for any pretenses between them.  
Deep down, Iwaizumi considered it a privilege to be the person Oikawa trusted so much.

After some more time, Oikawa’s phone rang.  
He picked up, humming a few times with a wide smile spreading over his face, and then he hung up again without saying anything.  
“Let’s go home, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi wasn’t even trying anymore to figure out what the hell was going on, but judging from the way Oikawa was basically skipping home and humming in excitement, he probably would find out soon enough anyways.

They went back to Iwaizumi’s house, and Iwaizumi opened his backpack to look for his keys, and realized with a groan that it must be somewhere on the very bottom.  
“Shittykawa, do you have your spare key with you?”  
But Oikawa shook his head. “Nope, sorry.”  
Sighing, Iwaizumi started emptying out his backpack, and finally - at the very bottom, as he had predicted - he found his keys and opened the door.

His parents were still at work, so they were alone in the house and it was dim in here with all the lights being turned off.  
“So, are you finally going to tell me what the running around was about?” Iwaizumi asked and stripped off his jacket and shoes. “Are you on some kind of step-per-day challenge again? Because if that’s the reason you dragged me around for hours, I swear-”

He was interrupted by a faint noise coming from the living room. “Huh.” He narrowed his eyes. “My parents shouldn’t be home yet.”  
Oikawa immediately took a step back. “What if it’s burglars?”  
Iwaizumi huffed. “They’d be really stupid to go steal shit in the afternoon when it’s not even dark yet. I’ll go check it out. Get your phone ready just in case.”  
“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa squeaked, but Iwaizumi just shook his head and made for the living room door. He wasn’t particularly afraid of people who were stupid enough to break into a house and then couldn’t even keep quiet.

Without any warning he threw the door open - and froze as the light turned on just as he entered.

“Happy Birthday!”

His brain needed a moment to process what his eyes were showing him, and when he had sorted through the confusion he saw that there in his living room were Makki and Mattsun, dressed with party hats (Makki was wearing two of them on his chest like a bra), and the whole room had been decorated in garlands and balloons - there was even a cake with candles on it! - and a bluetooth speaker was blasting a weird remix that kept changing between the birthday song and the godzilla theme.

That was the situation. It didn’t make him any less confused though.

“Guys… today’s not my birthday?”

But Makki and Mattsun just broke into a laughing fit, and Oikawa who was now entering the room behind him was giggling too, and when Iwaizumi turned towards him he saw that he was carrying a plush-godzilla which was also sporting a party head.

He frowned, trying to put the pieces together, and then when it finally hit him he groaned.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Told you guys he’d figure it out right away,” Makki wheezed.

These guys were really unbelievable. Shaking his head, Iwaizumi turned to Oikawa.  
“It’s November 3rd, isn’t it?”

“It’s November 3rd!” Oikawa confirmed with a grin and threw the plush figure into the air. “Happy birthday, Godzilla!”

His friends were definitely the most unbelievable, crazy and chaotic people in the world.  
But as they put a party hat on him and made him pretend to make the plush figure blow out the candles on the cake, he had to admit that they were pretty awesome too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fact check: November 3rd was the release date of Ishiro Honda's original Godzilla, and it has therefore been proclaimed Godzilla's birthday.
> 
> This might have been the most chaotic prompt I have written for fictober so far - first I just wanted to make it purely comedy, but then Iwa had to go and throw in his little ode to Oikawa in the middle.  
Still kinda happy with how it turned out though, despite me having to smash through a writer's block before getting anything written down.
> 
> Please consider leaving kudos and/or a comment xx
> 
> Insta: @streetsoldierin


	11. "It's not always like this."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa's parents aren't good at their job.
> 
> TW for implied/referenced child abuse and minor injuries

Iwaizumi first noticed when they were about fourteen years old.

He went over to Oikawa’s place like they had done many times since they had known each other, but something was different that day. Not a huge change, just something in the atmosphere, like Oikawa’s mother slamming her cup down on the table a little too roughly and Oikawa’s father leaving the table very abruptly after lunch.

Iwaizumi was good in reading his surroundings, but he supposed everyone had bad days, so he let it go.

The next time he was over at Oikawa’s place a week later, the mood hadn’t changed though, and Iwaizumi could see that it started to affect Oikawa, too.  
He wasn’t quieter or broody, no, on the contrary, he was much more cheerful than usually, laughing too loudly and too often and chippering on non-stop about so many random topics that Iwaizumi really wondered how he came up with them.  
The thing with Oikawa was, the louder he got, the more cheerful he was, the worse he was feeling on the inside usually.  
Iwaizumi knew was Oikawa’s natural happy state looked like, and it wasn’t like this, it wasn’t fake smiles and manufactured laughs.

When Iwaizumi asked him about it later, Oikawa admitted his parents had been arguing and that he just couldn’t stand the silence when sitting at the table together.  
He shrugged it off though, said that it happened occasionally, and that they would calm down again.

The weeks that followed, Iwaizumi didn’t get the chance to evaluate the situation, because they always went to his place.  
At first, he thought nothing of it, but then he noticed Oikawa coming up with really bad excuses not to go to his own house, and it got him wondering.  
That, and the fact that even Oikawa’s carefully crafted mask started cracking when he thought nobody was looking.  
But Iwaizumi was watching. And he saw the tiredness in his best friend’s gaze, he saw the concealer beneath his eyes, he saw right through the empty smiles, he saw.

When he went knocking on Oikawa’s door one day, it was Oikawa himself who opened, and he looked tired, so so tired.  
There was screaming coming from behind him. Oikawa tried a smile, but it was empty once again. “Ah, sorry Iwa-chan, it’s not a good time.” He noticed his friend’s pointed gaze, and averted his eyes. “It’s not always like this. It’s fine.”

But it wasn’t fine. Oikawa wasn’t fine.

The more time went on, the more exhausted he looked, and Iwaizumi started seeing him less and less, always some murmured excuse about homework or being tired on Oikawa’s lips.

But the day Oikawa showed up on Iwaizumi’s doorstep with a bruise on his cheek and a cut on his lips, Iwaizumi snapped.  
He pulled his best friend inside by his wrist, not even waiting for an explanation before he led him up to the bathroom and started cleaning the wounds.

Oikawa was uncharacteristically quiet and he didn’t meet Iwaizumi’s gaze, not even when they went downstairs again to put some ice on his cheek, and Iwaizumi hated every second of it.  
It was true that he didn’t like the act Oikawa put on to convince everyone that he was fine when he wasn’t feeling well, but this quiet, subdued state was somehow even worse, it almost scared Iwaizumi.

“Tooru.” He hoped the use of the first name would at least bring Oikawa back into reality for a little bit, and even though the other still wasn’t looking at him, when Iwaizumi took his hand, Oikawa squeezed a little bit. It wasn’t a huge gesture, but it was enough.

Iwaizumi didn’t ask what had happened. He suspected Oikawa wouldn’t answer right now anyways, and it’s not like he couldn’t put two and two together.

So instead, he resorted to holding his best friend close, letting him hide the tears he would never cry in public, assuring him that it would be fine.

He would made damn sure of that.

When Iwaizumi’s parents came home, both boys were fast asleep on the couch in the living room.

They saw the bruise on Oikawa’s cheek, and the way Iwaizumi was holding him all protectively, and their hearts broke a little when they realized what it all meant.  
They would address it the day after, and they would do whatever it took to help Oikawa out of this.

But for now, the boys were safe with each other.  
They would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always you'll absolutely make my day by leaving kudos and/or comments!  
Thank you xx


	12. "What if I don't see it?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Prince Oikawa is supposed to marry a king, but his heart belongs to that one particular guard.

Prince Oikawa Tooru was nervous.

The whole morning, servants had been buzzing around his room, opening windows, laying out clothes, running the bath, and he hadn’t had a moment of quiet ever since had woken up, which really didn’t help with calming his nerves.  
Neither did staring at the expensive looking robe that the servant was holding out to him now.

It was beautiful, turquoise and white, and it had small topazes sewn in all over it with golden thread. Oikawa had never seen it before today since his mother had it made for him and insisted to keep it safely stored away until the big wedding day.  
Maybe she had thought he would have ruined it purposely out of protest, and he had to admit, it had crossed his mind indeed.

But now it was too late. In less than an hour, he’d walk down the aisle by her side, and she’d give him away to some stranger, and no hole in any gown could stop that now.  
So he decided if he was going to be married off, he might as well look stunning doing it. Not that it eased his mind, but he didn’t have a choice in the matter anymore, so all he could do was hold his head high and bear it.  
They could take his freedom, maybe, but not his pride. Never his stubborn, worthless pride.

When he was all dressed and ready, he shooed the servants out of his room to at least get a breath in before the ceremony, but it only lasted for barely a minute before there was another knock on the door.  
He sighed and waited for just to seconds before calling, “Come in.”

The door swung open, and Oikawa felt some kind of relief when he saw it was Iwaizumi and not another servant trying to do something to his hair or face or clothes. “Iwa-chan. Come to see me off?”  
The leader of the king’s guard didn’t step into the room - it would have been deemed inappropriate, Oikawa knew, but it still annoyed him.  
“The Queen sent me,” Iwaizumi said and offered a small bow. “It seems the servants were worried since you sent them all away.”

Oikawa groaned. “Of course they’d go tattling. Well, doesn’t matter, it’s not like I can run anywhere, right?” He stood up from where he had been sitting and spread his arms. “Well, how do I look? Fit to marry a king?”  
“Fit to _be_ a king,” Iwaizumi replied, and Oikawa chuckled in response, but he could hear himself it didn’t sound as cheerful as he wanted it to.  
“Please, Iwa-chan, we both know it’ll be an empty title. I would’ve been a true king here, but in Shiratorizawa? I’ll only be a bride.”

“I don’t think so,” Iwaizumi said. “I’d like to see the man that can reduce you to only serving a purpose.”  
“Aw, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said and walked over, throwing an arm over the guard’s shoulders. Also inappropriate, but what did he care? He wouldn’t even be in this kingdom after today. “That’s such a nice thing to say. Accompany me on my way to the chapel, will you?”  
“As you wish,” Iwaizumi replied and smoothly escaped from Oikawa’s with one swift movement. 

He was used to fleeing from the affectionate touches after years and years of experience.  
Oikawa knew he was being unfair whenever he approached Iwaizumi like that, because the guard could lose his job over something as mundane as touching the prince, while Oikawa had nothing to lose there. But he really, really wished the situation was different, and therefore he sometimes forgot.

He just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact why he couldn’t hug his childhood friend anymore, but apparently it wasn’t deemed decent, especially now that he was engaged to King Ushijima. The thought alone made his stomach squirm.

Being married off into the Ushijima family was bad enough as it was, considering that Oikawa really despised the prince of the family. But at least Wakatoshi was around his own age.  
But no, apparently the King hadn’t deemed him worthy enough, so instead he was marrying him now after his husband had passed two years ago. And apparently nobody except Oikawa himself found it strange to be engaged to a man twice his age.

They walked down the hall that was full of servants bustling around, running last minute arrangements for the wedding feast, and Oikawa just wanted to turn around and go back to bed.  
He also wanted to rub the tiredness from his eyes, but he couldn’t even do that since the servants had already painted the fine lines and patterns on his face and his mother would kill him if he smudged them. Gods, this was all so annoying.

“Tell me Iwa-chan, have you ever been at a wedding before?”

Iwaizumi nodded. “My aunt married again after her husband died. I doubt a royal wedding can compare to that, though.”

Oikawa sighed. “Yeah, stiff guests and a three hour ceremony. Very exciting.”

Iwaizumi snorted, but didn’t comment on it. Instead, he said, “I heard the magical part of royal ceremonies is quite stunning.”

To be honest, Oikawa really didn’t want to think about that. “Really? From what my mother told me, they’re supposed to be quite exhausting.”

“Also true. You’ll have to summon your light with your eyes closed and direct it at your partner, don’t you?”

“Correct,” Oikawa replied. “But I imagine it’s quite hard. Summoning light is exhausting in itself, but summoning it with the purpose of shining it on someone I barely even know? With my eyes closed? What if I don’t see it?”

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine, Oikawa-sama.”

Oikawa frowned. “Don’t call me that. There’s nobody listening.”

“My apologies.”

“Will you be there?” Oikawa asked, and he didn’t really know what answer he wanted to that. Of course he always wanted Iwaizumi by his side, but having him there while he was being married to a complete stranger? It felt weird. It felt _wrong_.

“Of course. I’m responsible for your safety, after all.”

Oikawa hummed and nodded. “One last day of babysitting, hm? You must be relieved to be done with that duty once I’m gone.”

Iwaizumi stopped dead in his tracks and frowned. “You know that’s not true.” His gaze turned a bit reproachful. “You could still reassign me to Shiratorizawa with you. I still don’t understand why you didn’t in the first place.”

But Oikawa shook his head. He couldn’t drag Iwaizumi with him, couldn’t string him along in something they both knew could never happen, especially not once he was married. It wouldn’t be fair.  
Iwaizumi deserved to have a good life, and for that, Oikawa needed to let him go, even if it hurt.  
And boy, it did hurt like hell.  
“We’ve talked about this, Iwa-chan.”

“But…”

“No. That’s enough. Let’s go.”

He saw that there was more Iwaizumi wanted to say, and honestly, he did too, but they couldn’t, it only would hurt them more. And so they walked on until they arrived at the chapel where the Queen was already waiting impatiently.  
Iwaizumi bowed and excused himself, and it had never hurt Oikawa more to see him leave.

His mother began babbling on about his hair and straightened out his robe, and Oikawa willed himself to just retreat into his own mind and let her do whatever she wanted.  
He barely listened to what she said, and it was like his body moved on autopilot when she led him into the chapel.

The crowd inside stood up in their seats when they entered, but Oikawa barely noticed, he forced a smile on his lips and at the end of the aisle he could already see King Ushijima. He looked serious, not excited, not particularly joyful either. This probably was just business for him.  
His mother started pulling him along and Oikawa found it had never been more difficult for him to keep up a smile.

They reached the front and King Ushijima respectfully inclined his head, and Oikawa did the same. His heart was racing at this point, and he had to actively force himself not to run.  
He had to do this, he reminded himself, there was no way out, he could do this.

The ceremony went by in a blur, and Oikawa blamed it on the many scented fumes in here, though he hoped nobody noticed how apathetic he had become or how monotonous his voice sounded.  
He also caught himself letting his eyes wander over the crowd, and two hours into the ceremony he finally spotted Iwaizumi, standing next to the wall.  
The guard seemed tense, upset, and Oikawa wanted to cry.

And then the part he had feared most finally was there: The priest told them to close their eyes and summon their light, concentrating it on their partner.  
Oikawa did as he was told, but when he closed his eyes and tried to imagine King Ushijima’s face in front of his, suddenly all he could think about what would happen after this ceremony, after the wedding feast, when the bedroom doors would close behind them and they were expected to consummate their marriage.  
He had tried not to think about it before, but now he couldn’t seem to think about anything else, and panic started to rise in his chest.

Shit, he needed to calm himself, he’d never be able to summon his light like this. But the thought of the stranger’s hands on him, hands holding him down, hands touching…  
No no no, he couldn’t think of this, he needed to ground himself, right now! His mind attached himself to the thought that always grounded him, violent hands turning into careful ones, a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly in the shadows when nobody was watching… and Iwaizumi’s face appeared in front of him.  
A burst of light went through him and he almost sighed in relief. He had been so close to messing this up, but his light was here now, he had managed, he…

There were several gasps in the crowd, and Oikawa opened his eyes in confusion, squinting at the brightness in front of him, against King Ushijima’s light surrounding him.  
The king was staring at him, eyes piercing and unforgiving, and Oikawa wondered what seemed to be the matter, before it hit him.  
There was no light surrounding King Ushijima.

But… he had clearly felt it, he knew he had managed to summon it, so where…?  
His eyes snapped into the crowd, found Iwaizumi immediately.

Iwaizumi, who was surrounded by turquoise light, staring back at him with wide eyes.

Oh fuck.

“What is the meaning of this?” King Ushijima growled, and Oikawa opened his mouths, excuses already on his tongue, but then he stopped himself.  
Took a step back.

And shook his head.

Why? Why should he sacrifice his life, his chance at love, _everything_, just to please all these people that meant nothing to him?  
Why should he go against his own heart’s wishes, when even his own magic pulled him to a different place?

So he took another step back and reached towards his crown, taking it off.

“I can’t do this. I’m sorry.” He wasn’t, really.

Under the eyes of a hundred guests and in front of their gaping mouths, he stepped down from the stage and walked towards Iwaizumi, who was frozen in place under the light.

Before he could reach him though, his mother stepped into his path. “What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed, venom dripping from every word.  
But he wouldn’t bow to her anymore, so he just held out his crown. “I’m abdicating.”

“You’ll put that on your head and go back up there immediately!” she seethed. “Who do you think you are, making such a scene? Don’t embarrass me any more than this, son, or I swear…”

But Oikawa shook his head and dropped the crown. Her eyes blew wide as it clattered against the floor, and he met her gaze steadily. “I apologize. Goodbye, mother.”  
And with those words, he shouldered past her, finally reaching Iwaizumi. He took his hand and pulled him towards the exit, speeding up as he heard the whispers grow louder until they were evolving into shouts.

“Come on.” He threw the doors open, and then they were running.

“Where are we going?” Iwaizumi shouted, but Oikawa didn’t answer, just pulled him along as he ran.

If there was someone on their heels, they lost them soon enough, and after some time Oikawa pulled them into a backstreet and stopped.  
They were both panting, and as their eyes locked, it fully hit Oikawa what he had done.

“Oh gods,” he gasped. “Oh gods, I am so sorry.”

“What for?” Iwaizumi answered and planted his hands on his knees to catch his breath again.

“_What for_?” Oikawa repeated incredulously. “Um, did you pay any attention to the last half hour? I just called off the fucking wedding. I abdicated! Oh gods, and I probably just cost you your job, too! Shit, what the hell was I thinking? I am so sorry, I’ll go right back and… well I don’t know if I can fix the wedding thing, but I’ll see that you don’t get fired, I promise, I’ll fucking beg on my knees if that’s what it takes, oh gods, I-”

He was interrupted by Iwaizumi’s lips crashing against his own and his eyes blew wide open, hands finding Iwaizumi’s shoulders to steady himself as he stumbled back against the wall.  
Iwaizumi held him tight, and the kiss was almost aggressive, but still Oikawa could feel himself melting into it.  
When they pulled apart, he was even more out of breath than before.

“Iwa-chan…”  
“You will not go back,” Iwaizumi growled. “I don’t care what it takes, if we have to run all the way to Nekoma, but you will not go back. I won’t let you.”  
“You… but your job…”  
“Screw my job. I’d give up my life for you, you stupid idiot, so what would I care about some damned title?”

Oikawa chuckled breathlessly. “That was the first time you dared to insult me.”  
Iwaizumi smirked. “That was also the first time you admitted your feelings. Though it was a bit melodramatic, shining your light on me, don’t you think?”  
“It wasn’t on purpose,” Oikawa groaned and hid his face in Iwaizumi’s shoulder. “I didn’t have any control over that.”  
“Oh, I think you did,” Iwaizumi replied.

“So what are we going to do now?”

The whole kingdom was looking for them, probably, along with the Shiratorizawa kingdom too. Whatever they did, they couldn’t stay.

Iwaizumi took his hand in his, and in contrast to Oikawa’s rising panic, he seemed absolutely calm. “I meant when I said I’ll go to Nekoma with you. We can start over there. It won’t be an easy journey, but…” He looked down on him, eyes completely serious, “…it’s worth it for me, as long as I can be with you.”

“Then let’s do it,” Oikawa replied breathlessly.

And then their lips met again, and this time, Oikawa wasn’t feeling surprise, but something much stronger. This was where he belonged, his light magic had shown him that much, and he would be damned if he ever tried to let that go again.  
It felt like everything was a whirlwind, and they were the center, the eye of the storm.

When they pulled apart this time, Oikawa’s eyes sparkled in a daring way. Not too long ago, he had been drowning, but right here and now, he could breathe again.

“Let’s run.”

They both knew it would be hard, and they would have to be smart about it, and they would face many dangers…  
But none of that mattered, as long as they were together.

And so, hand in hand, they ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was longer than I intended it to be? Whoops? I really enjoyed this AU though!
> 
> Also when I finished writing I realized I literally forgot to write the prompt sentence into it so I had to go back and find a place where it it in haha. Not my proudest moment.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and if you leave kudos and/or comments, just know you'll literally make my day xx


	13. "I never knew it could be this way."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa has a nice Christmas.
> 
> TW for Past Child Abuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've been MIA for the last week because a) university started and b) my wifi broke down and I couldn't upload at all.  
New chapters will come and I'm trying to catch up to the schedule, so bear with me please!

Christmas had always been big in the Iwaizumi family.

Nobody knew why in particular, but this was the one holiday they were just crazy about, and every year they invited the whole family - all aunts and uncles and cousins and even all the distant relations, and everyone was welcome to bring plus ones too, so Christmas Eve was one colorful, loud and happy event in a full house filled with laughter and the scent of roast meat and pie in the air.

This year was different in one aspect though, and that aspect was Oikawa.

Normally, Oikawa would spend Christmas Eve at his own house, and come over the next day for the after-feast - since there was always more food than anyone could ever eat, they usually held a second Christmas Eve in a smaller circle, which wasn’t as chaotic as the first one, but just as nice.

But a lot had happened since last Christmas.  
Iwaizumi still felt the shivers running through him whenever he thought about that fateful day, when Oikawa finally took that last step and told him about the abuse that he had endured in his own house.  
He still felt the anger cursing through his veins when his best friend had lifted his shirt and showed him the nasty bruises on his ribs, two of which had been broken.  
And he still felt the protectiveness that had washed over him when Oikawa’s parents had been taking in by the police and Iwaizumi had held him in his arms as he cried. He hated Oikawa’s parents with all he had for what they put him through, but he also understood that Oikawa still loved them in some way and he would not judge him for that.

Oikawa had been living with them for half a year now, and though the abuse had left its marks, he was on a good path towards recovery. The ribs had healed, and the mental wounds were slowly fading, too, though they probably would leave some scars.  
But Oikawa was okay, and that was all that mattered.  
And since this was his home now, it would be the first Christmas he and Iwaizumi would spend together.

Iwaizumi had to admit that he was a bit nervous about the whole thing, because this would also be the first time Oikawa would be faced with the entirety of the Iwaizumi family in one place, and surely they would be hounding him and asking him all kinds of stuff, probably even if he was Iwaizumi’s plus one. God, he was not ready for this.

Oikawa was a people person, of course, but Iwaizumi also knew that he found large crowds to be exhausting because he felt the need to be on his guard the whole time.  
It was the same with volleyball, really, Oikawa thrived on the sport, but matches always wore him out extremely, even though they were his favorite thing in the world.

Now they were seated at the long make-shift table in the living room, the tree in the corner was covered in glitter - much more so this year than any year before because Oikawa had helped decorate it - and covered the room with its sparkling light.

Iwaizumi sat to Oikawa’s left, and he kept glancing over just to make sure everything was okay.  
The family was all there, everyone was eating and chatting and laughing, just what Iwaizumi loved most about Christmas, and still he couldn’t help but be nervous about the situation.

Oikawa seemed to be handling himself quite well though, he was actively chatting with Iwaizumi’s mother and one of his other relatives - Iwaizumi didn’t even know in what way they were related, something like his third cousin once removed probably.  
Iwaizumi’s mother was bragging about Oikawa unashamedly as if he was her own son, and that boosted Oikawa’s ego through the roof of course. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes occasionally as his mother went on a over-the-top tirade about how they had defeated Karasuno in their last match, but he couldn’t help but hide a smile at the way Oikawa puffed his chest.

They went through dinner, and then it was time for the presents. The gift giving part took forever every year, because of course everyone had gotten a gift for everyone, and considering how many people were here, there were so many packages on the ground that the tree was barely visible anymore.

Iwaizumi noticed that Oikawa hung back a bit, so he went over and nudged him towards the couch. “Sit down with me, you don’t want to be standing the whole time,” he muttered. “It literally takes forever.”  
Oikawa nodded and complied.  
They squeezed onto the couch were three other people were already sitting and then the gift giving started.

The family insisted on doing it one by one, like always, so the major part consisted of watching other people open their packages, squeal, and hug whoever they had received the gift from.  
To keep it fair, they had a set order in which people opened gifts so they were going in rounds, and when it was Oikawa’s turn his eyes blew wide as if he hadn’t even expected to get anything.  
But since Iwaizumi’s parents loved Oikawa to death and probably told everyone about him living with them, Iwaizumi was sure this gift wouldn’t be the only one Oikawa would be receiving that day. More like twenty-something, really.

After opening the third one and saying thank you to Iwaizumi’s second cousin, he excused himself to go to the bathroom, and Iwaizumi’s internal alarm went off immediately.  
There was just something in Oikawa’s step as he walked out of the room, something about the way his shoulders tensed up.

So he waited a few minutes as not to make it too suspicious, and then excused himself too.  
He went to the bathroom first, but to his surprise Oikawa wasn’t there. He wasn’t in his room, either, so Iwaizumi figured his own room was the last option, and sure enough, as he opened the door, he already saw Oikawa sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard and staring out the window where snow was slowly floating to the ground.

“Hey,” Iwaizumi said as he entered, not wanting to startle him, but Oikawa barely moved.  
Iwaizumi closed the door behind him, and when he got closer to sit down on the bed next to Oikawa, he realized with a painful clench in his chest that his best friend was crying silently. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

Oikawa just sniffed and leaned into him, hiding his face in Iwaizumi’s shoulder. His sobs were entirely silent, but Iwaizumi could feel the tension in his body and how his shoulders were shaking when he wrapped an arm around them.  
They just sat like that for a while. Iwaizumi didn’t ask again what was wrong, he knew Oikawa would talk when he was ready and it was best to just let him sort things out in his head.  
After a few minutes, he lifted his head and wiped his face. “I’m sorry for running off like that.”

“Tch,” Iwaizumi made and nudged him with his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. You might have noticed that my family is pretty chill about basically everything.”  
Oikawa nodded. “They’re amazing.”  
“It’s okay if it’s too much though, you know that, right?”

At that, Oikawa glanced at him and started shaking his head. “Oh, Iwa-chan, this isn’t about that. I’m fine.”  
“You were crying two minutes ago.”  
“Yes, I know, I just…” Oikawa sighed and made a vague gesture towards the door, “I just needed to step out for a second. You know, I always kind of dreaded Christmas, but this… I never knew it could be this way.”

When he looked back at Iwaizumi, he was smiling, and Iwaizumi’s heart broke all over again. “Oikawa…”

“No, it’s okay. I promise I’m fine, in fact, I’m great. This Christmas with your family, they’re all so nice and everyone is having so much fun… it’s all I ever wanted, you know? I just- when they started giving me all these gifts, I got overwhelmed for a second, but I promise, not in a bad way, I’m just… Iwa-chan, I’m just really, really happy.”

Oh. That wasn’t really what he had expected. “I- I’m glad, then.”  
He didn’t want to think about how horrible all of Oikawa’s previous Christmas Eves must have been, so instead he focused on the fact that Oikawa was here now, and that he was so _happy_ that it had overwhelmed him. It made his chest feel all warm. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

Oikawa chuckled and wiped at his eyes. “Yeah, me too, believe me.” He looked out the window again, and it was only then that Iwaizumi realized he was looking over to his old house. It had to be hard seeing it every day, but probably especially in this moment it brought up unpleasant memories.

“Hey.” He nudged Oikawa’s shoulder again. “I think if we stay up here for too long, my third cousin’s husband might eat all the pie.”  
That got Oikawa chuckling again. “Why the hell is your family so huge, anyways? But you’re right, we should get back.”

They got up from the back and Oikawa stretched his arms a bit, which made his shirt ride up his waist. Looking closer, that shirt was a bit too short for him anyways.  
Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow. “So that’s where that shirt went. Did you seriously have that for two years, Shittykawa?”  
Oikawa grinned at him innocently. “I’ve worn it in front of you many times, you never noticed.”  
“No wonder my closet always looks empty.”  
“Tch, this is the only one I kept, I always put the others back.”  
“You are a thief!”  
“Am not!”  
“Are too!”  
“Am not!”

They stared at each other intensely, but it was Oikawa who broke first and burst out laughing, and Iwaizumi joined in.  
Just as they were trying to regain their breath, the door opened and Iwaizumi’s mother peeked in. “Boys? There you are! I went looking because I was a bit worried, but you look fine to me. Not doing anything indecent, are you?”

“Mom!” Iwaizumi groaned, but Oikawa just laughed and slung his arm around Iwaizumi’s shoulders.  
“But Auntie, what do you take us for? We’d never do that.” He turned and winked at Iwaizumi. “Not when the whole family is in the house, at least.”

Iwaizumi was pretty positive he would die right there and then, but his mother crossed those plans by laughing and Oikawa pulling him out into the hallway.  
“Let’s get back to that pie.”

On their way downward, Oikawa chattered with Iwaizumi’s mom happily and never once let go of Iwaizumi’s shoulders.  
When they entered the living room again, half the family cheered, and while Iwaizumi only replied with a smile and rolling his eyes, when he turned to Oikawa, the other was beaming. Iwaizumi had only seen this expression on him whenever they stepped onto a volleyball court, and that other time when he had taken Oikawa to see the new alien movie that had come out last year.  
But right now, he seemed genuinely happy, and Iwaizumi swore he could feel his heart warming up at that sight.

Oikawa had gone through a lot, but seeing him like this, laughing alongside the rest of everyone else, making jokes and opening presents and wearing the gift ribbon like a crown around his head, Iwaizumi realized Oikawa was the strongest person he knew.  
And seeing him happy like this was all he could ever wish for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, a Christmas one shot for _Fictober_, makes so much sense!  
Also this is way longer than I expected, but what the hell.
> 
> Please leave kudos and/or comments! xx


	14. "I can't come back."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa has scars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for Scars and Injuries

“No, stay,” Iwaizumi barked at Makki. The other one had just attempted to go after Oikawa who had run out of the gym a few seconds ago, but Iwaizumi shook his head at him. “I’ll go talk to him. Everyone else stay here.” 

He shot the coach a look, but the older man just nodded at him; he probably knew that Iwaizumi was the only one Oikawa would want to see, or rather tolerate right now.   
And Iwaizumi trusted him in return to keep the whispers down for now that his teammates have already started up.

He didn’t hesitate another second before running out of the door, and though he didn’t know where Oikawa had gone, he had a pretty good guess, so he took a left and ran towards the supply closets where Oikawa used to hide out back then when his knee had first started acting up.  
Shortly before he slowed down a little, getting his breathing under control. It would be no use facing an obviously upset Oikawa all riled up, he needed to calm himself down a little, even though his own thoughts were spinning around in his mind.

When he was breathing normally again, he opened the door to the closet, careful not to throw it open too harshly, and as he entered, he could already see Oikawa sitting on the ground.  
He had his left knee pulled up to his chest, the right leg was stretched out in front of him since he wasn’t supposed to bend it too much after the still lingering injury.  
How many times had they been here, in this exact closet, talking about said injury and how many times had Iwaizumi held his best friends tight in his arms and reassured him that it would be okay?

Today was different though. This time, it wasn’t about the knee.

“Hey.” Iwaizumi closed the door behind him and flicked the light switch that Oikawa hadn’t cared to turn on.  
Oikawa barely reacted, he didn’t even lift his head from where he had it propped up on the knee, so Iwaizumi just sat down next to him. “I get why you ran, but I will still tell you that you didn’t have to.”

“They saw, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa replied in a monotonous voice. He didn’t even sound upset, just tired. “They all saw.”  
“Yeah,” Iwaizumi confirmed, because there was no denying that. 

Oikawa had forgotten his training jersey at home and had borrowed one of Iwaizumi’s spare ones, which fit him well enough but was a bit more loose and shorter than his own, which had seemed fine and they hadn’t thought anything of it, until Oikawa jumped for his serve and the shirt rode up almost all the way to his chest when he raised his arm.   
The scars on his torso had been fully visible to everyone that had been watching at the time - meaning almost everyone on the team, technically.

“You don’t have to explain yourself,” Iwaizumi continued. “You know our team. They might ask questions, but they’ll back off if you tell them to.”

“No,” Oikawa replied, still just staring ahead of him. “I can’t face them.”

“So what? You’re gonna quit now?”

“Iwa-chan.” At least there was some kind of emotion in Oikawa’s voice now, but he sounded so broken that it physically hurt Iwaizumi to hear him. “I can’t come back. If anyone talks about this, I can’t take it.”

“Yes, you can,” Iwaizumi said. “You didn’t think you couldn’t face me like this, either, but you did. And you’re okay.”

“But that’s you. You’re different.”

Iwaizumi really tried not to read anything into these words, because he couldn’t let his mind wander down that road, not now when Oikawa was hurting.  
“You know each and every one of these guys, and on the court you trust them wholly, don’t you? You’re their captain, they all admire you. You really think they wouldn’t respect it if you told them you don’t want to talk about it?”

Oikawa’s shoulders tensed and he drew them upwards. “I don’t know. I mean, yes, I know they probably wouldn’t. But just thinking about it… if even one of them tries to dig deeper…”

“Hey,” Iwaizumi said and carefully settled a hand on Oikawa’s shoulder, kneading slightly until the tension left again. “You know how before every match you say you believe in all of us? I need you to take this trust off-court now. These people are your friends, and they would never hurt you, just like me.”

“Iwa-chan…”

“Whatever you do, we’ll have your back. But I beg you, don’t give this up because you think any of your teammates might hurt you. They won’t, I promise.”

Oikawa sighed and leaned back a bit, stretching out the left leg too, unfolding himself a bit. “But what do I tell them? I can’t just come back and act as if nothing happened, as if they didn’t see anything.”

“It’s up to you, but you don’t have to share anything. You have to acknowledge it, of course, but you can just say that you don’t want to talk about it. They’ll understand.”

He sighed again, breath shaky. “I really hate this, Iwa-chan. I hate that it left so many marks.”

“You’re entitled to that feeling. To any feeling you have about this, really, but I just want you to know these scars don’t mean anything. They’re nothing symbolic, no tiger stripes, no marks that bind you to what happened. They’re just healed wounds.”

“It doesn’t feel like it when people see them, though. Whenever they do, they’re eyes go wide and they look at me expecting a story that I can’t tell.”

“And also a story you don’t have to tell. People react to things that are different from the norm, but they’ll accept them just as fast. You could dye your hair an outrageous color and people would react to it, but give it two days and everything’s back to normal.”

Oikawa snorted. “You can’t really compare this to dyed hair.”

But Iwaizumi just shrugged. “Why not? These scars don’t mean anything more. They’re part of you just like your hair or your eye color or, I don’t know, the shape of your ears. All things you can’t change.”

“I wish I could, though.”

“Some people would say the same about other parts of their bodies, but they learn to live with it. It’s no different from this. You can do this, and you know I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t fully believed it.”

Oikawa sighed again, but he looked much calmer now. “Sometimes I wish I could believe in myself the way you believe in me, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi pushed off the ground and offered Oikawa a hand to help him get up too. “Some day I’m sure you can. Until then, let me do the job.”

When they both stood, Oikawa hesitated for a moment before pulling Iwaizumi in for a hug. “Thank you.”

Iwaizumi didn’t answer, just wrapped his hands around his best friend and held him for a while. He knew Oikawa didn’t need any more words from him.  
He meant what he said though. Oikawa was so unbelievably strong, and he would get through this just as he had gotten through every obstacle so far, even if it would take a lot of courage.

They made their way back to the gym, and when they approached the doors, Oikawa’s breathing turned steady, controlled. He squared his shoulders, straightened his back and held his head high, and looking at him, Iwaizumi knew he had nothing to worry about.  
“You’re gonna be okay, Tooru.”

Oikawa nodded at him to acknowledge the statement, but didn’t break the focus on his breathing. He probably was on the verge to panicking, but he handled it masterfully and didn’t even wait for Iwaizumi to open the doors, instead, he pushed them open himself an entered.  
Iwaizumi trailed behind closely, and surely enough all eyes were on them when they entered the gym.

Oikawa didn’t falter in his step, he determinedly marched over to where the rest of the team was assembled and halted shortly before them so he could face them all.  
Iwaizumi stood by his side, giving him space but still standing close enough to assure him of his support.

Before anyone could say anything, Oikawa spoke up, “I apologize for running off.”   
The only thing giving away that his confidence was faked was the slight trembling in his right knee, but Iwaizumi was fairly sure nobody beside himself noticed.  
Oikawa took a deep breath. “I know you all have question, so to put it out there: I was involved in a fire accident last year. That’s all I want to say about it, and I’d really appreciate it if we left it at that.”

Iwaizumi lets his gaze wander over his teammates, daring anyone to ignore Oikawa’s plea, but as he had expected, none of them made any move to do so. Even Kyoutani kept his mouth shut.

Makki was the first one to speak up. “Of course, dude. We were just worried, if you don’t wanna share that’s fine.”

Oikawa inclined his head in thanks. “I’m all good now, so no need to worry.”

“Then it’s cool,” Makki said and looked around him, the rest of the team nodding in agreement. “As long as you’re okay, we’re all good too. Right?”

Iwaizumi could basically feel the tension falling off Oikawa, and the atmosphere quickly went back to normal when coach told them to get back to work and everyone scattered to get back to training.  
Oikawa sent coach a thankful glance, and the man nodded in return.

Besides Iwaizumi and Oikawa himself, Coach Irihata was the only person present that knew about the incident from last year.

Iwaizumi still felt his body tense up whenever he remembered what had happened.  
The dread he had felt when he had come to the hospital and saw the fire trucks parked outside, the police officers holding him back when he tried to run past the barricade, tried to get inside because _Oikawa_ was in there, Oikawa with his knee in a brace, fresh out of surgery, and _god_, he couldn’t even stand up yet so how the hell would he run from a fire?  
He remembered how the message of the fire only being small and that it had been put out very quickly hadn’t brought him any relief, because there was still no sign of his best friend, and then the news that the fire had been int he exact hospital wing where Oikawa had been…

Iwaizumi had long since called Oikawa’s parents, and they were waiting together, anxious to get any news, any indication that Oikawa was still alive.  
Until he was wheeled out of there.  
The hospital didn’t have to be evacuated fully since the fire had been so small, but the ones whose rooms had been affected directly were transferred to another facility. Oikawa included.

Iwaizumi remembered running over to the stretcher when it was wheeled out of the hospital, recognizing Oikawa immediately though he was covered in that golden foil and there was an oxygen mask over his face, and his eyes were closed and he didn’t respond to anything.  
The paramedics had had to pull Iwaizumi back and he still remembered how his mind had felt, he had never been so out of control before, only focusing on getting to Oikawa.

Oikawa’s parents took him with them to the new hospital, and they had to wait for what felt like forever to get any information, but then finally, finally it was provided to them

The source of the fire had still been unclear, though later it was found out that a visitor had smoked a cigarette. Oikawa’s room had been right next to where the fire had broken out, and it soon had blocked his door so there was no way someone could have gotten to him, and he hadn’t even been able to stand due to coming just out of surgery. He had been woken up from the anesthesia by his blanket burning.

Trapped in his room, the fire creeping closer and with no way to escape, he had crawled over to the bathroom, covered his face in a wet towel to escape suffocating from the smoke, and his quick thinking was what saved his life in the end.  
That, and the firefighter that arrived just minutes later.

He had been okay for the most part.  
There had been some nasty burns on his torso from where his burning blanket had singed him, and he had had a severe case of smoke intoxication, but those things had healed fairly quick.  
The trauma of the whole incident had lingered though, and even now after almost a year he hadn’t recovered mentally, neither from his knee injury nor the fire.

But looking at him now, how he pulled himself together and stepped back onto the court with his head held high despite having been on the brink of a panic attack mere seconds ago…  
Iwaizumi had no doubt that he would be okay.

And he would be with him every step of the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know what happened with this prompt? I apologize for the weird narration, I wrote this in a caffeine high.
> 
> Please leave me some love in form of kudos and/or comments xx


	15. "That's what I'm talking about!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Iwaoi is married and has a son.
> 
> TW for Implied/Referenced Child Abuse (not Iwaoi's son though, they love him to bits!), Angsty Angst and Implied Sexual Content

“Nice one! That’s what I’m talking about!” Iwaizumi shouted and walked over to high-five his twelve-year old son Eiji. The volleyball Eiji had just sent up in a wonderful receive thudded against the ground behind them for a few times before stopping there, and both Iwaizumi and Eiji grinned over to where Oikawa was sitting.

He grinned back and put his laptop down for a second to wave at them. He was lounging in one of the wicker chairs on their porch, with a laptop balancing on his thighs and his right leg propped up on a little stool.  
His knee wasn’t acting up as much these days ever since he had quit volleyball, but it still had bad days.

The other two were now walking over to him, Eiji happily skipping and Iwaizumi following with a wide grin.

“Dad, did you see the last one?” Eiji asked excitedly, bouncing up and down in one spot. “Did you see?”

“I did,” Oikawa grinned and lifted his hand for a high-five, to which Eiji happily complied. “It was amazing!”

“So it was,” Iwaizumi added. “And you’re improving every day, too!”

“Dad, will you teach me to jump serve?” Eiji asked with wide eyes, and Oikawa couldn’t help but feel like all air was leaving his lungs. He forced a smile on his lips, though. “Maybe. Right now you should be getting ready for your sleepover night, no?”

“Yes!” Eiji shouted and jumped up into the air while pumping his fist. “It’s gonna be epic. I’ll go and pack right away!”

They both chuckled as they watched him race into the house and run up the stairs to get to his room, and Iwaizumi plopped down in a chair next to Oikawa with a sigh. “That boy has more energy than he can store in that small body of his. He gets that from you, you were exactly the same at his age.”

“Oh, then I suppose he got the height from you,” Oikawa replied teasingly, and Iwaizumi punched his shoulder in return. “Shut up! I’m almost forty now, you can’t keep making fun of my height forever!”

“Is that a challenge, Iwa-chan?”

“No! Jeez.” He glanced at Oikawa’s laptop. “What are you working on?”

“Just some stats,” Oikawa replied and showed him the screen. “I’m analyzing the last match again because we’re still looking at a better approach for our tactics against Italy.”

“Seemed solid enough to me last time.”

“I mean, yeah, it worked, but they still totally read us. We’re not going to be able to pull this again if we don’t change something.”

After retiring from the national volleyball team almost ten years ago, Oikawa had been offered a job as assistant coach much to his joy, and whatever passion he had carried on the court, he poured into his new duties now.  
He loved his job, and even though nothing had been made official yet, the coach had strongly hinted at his retirement not being too far in the future, and that he would want Oikawa to take his place.

“Hey, Tooru?” Iwaizumi asked, rousing Oikawa from his train of thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“How’s your knee?”

Oikawa shrugged and wiggled his leg a bit where it was lying. “Fine. It hurt this morning, but it’s much better now. Why?”

Iwaizumi hummed. “I was just wondering… you know, Eiji would really, really love for you to teach him jump serves. He knows you were famous for them back in the days, and I know he asked you a few times already, but it seems there hasn’t been an occasion yet, and earlier when he asked I noticed you were a bit uncomfortable.”

“Oh,” Oikawa replied and stared at his knee. “I… I’m just not sure it’s a good idea.”

Iwaizumi’s brow furrowed. “Do you think your knee can’t handle it? You could just talk him through it, I’m sure he would be more than satisfied with that.”

“No, it’s not that,” Oikawa sighed and flipped his laptop shut and set it aside. “I just don’t know if I should be the one teaching him. You’re doing a great job, and he has the coach at school.”

“Yes, but in case you have forgotten, you’re assistant trainer of the men’s national team. You know Eiji is so proud of that, so I think it would really mean a lot to him if you took some time for teaching him a little.”

“Iwa-chan…” Oikawa tried again, but he didn’t know how to phrase what he wanted to say. He got Iwaizumi’s point, he did, but there was always this nagging feeling at the back of his head.

And as always, Iwaizumi immediately caught on that something was wrong. “What is it?”

“I just… I’m afraid of pushing him too much,” Oikawa said and ran a hand over his face. “I was so happy when he came home one day and announced he was joining volleyball, but… I can’t help but feel like maybe I’m putting too much pressure on him. I don’t want him to feel like he has to step into my footsteps, or like I expect anything from him when it comes to volleyball.”

“Eiji plays because he has fun doing it, nothing else. You’d be doing him a favor by teaching him, not the other way around.” Then Iwaizumi frowned. “Wait, is this about your father?”

As always, he hit the bull’s eye right away. Oikawa was amazed every time how easy it was for his husband to read him, he always did it so effortlessly.

“Tooru,” Iwaizumi said softly and put his arm around his shoulders. “You are not your father. You teaching Eiji is nothing like what that man did to you, not at all.”

“But what if it becomes that?” Oikawa asked. “What if I get too into it and start pushing? I don’t want Eiji going down that road, he has so much joy and I would hate to see that ruined.”

“You aren’t going to do that. You couldn’t even if you tried.”

“How can you say that? My father might have been the one who pressured me, but I was the one who gave in. All that obsession and hatred and rivalry, it all came from me, not him.”

“That’s not true,” Iwaizumi said firmly. “Your father took what you loved and poisoned it. Your passion for volleyball was never a problem, only what he turned it into. He made you scared of losing, and terrified of failing. You aren’t him, you hear me? You would never do that to Eiji.”

Oikawa sniffled and it was only then that he realized his throat had started closing up. “How do you know?”

“Because I know you, Tooru,” Iwaizumi replied and pulled him in closer, pressing a kiss to his temple. “You’re the most loving person I ever met, and I also know you would give Eiji the moon if he asked for it. You love him so much, you could never hurt him.”

Of course Oikawa would rather die than let any harm come to his son. But these doubts were always there, always nagging that he might go down the path his father had taken.  
But what Iwaizumi said was true, he couldn’t ever hurt Eiji intentionally.

“You think I should do it, then? Teach him, I mean?”

“I do,” Iwaizumi confirmed. “He’ll be over the moon. These days of obsessing over everything and antagonizing every mistake and every rival are way behind us, you don’t have to worry about passing that on to him. All you’ll give him is that passion you always had, and that’s a good thing. It’s amazing, in fact.”

Oikawa sighed and leaned into Iwaizumi a little more. “What would I do without you, Iwa-chan?”

“Starve and die, probably,” Iwaizumi teased, but put a hand on Oikawa’s chin and pulled him in for a small kiss. “Promise you’ll talk to me if you ever think about something like this again. You over think way too much, and I know you just need a voice of reason sometimes.”

“I will,” Oikawa replied and kissed him back. “Thank you, Hajime.”

“You know what I was also thinking?” Iwaizumi smiled at him. “We have the house to ourselves tonight. What do you think about-”

“Papa, if you finish this sentence, I think I might vomit right here on the porch,” a voice interrupted, and Iwaizumi and Oikawa scooted apart a little to look at their son who was in the doorway with a packed bag and staring at them with a horrified expression.

Iwaizumi laughed. “What’s wrong with an X-Files marathon?”

Eiji grimaced. “That’s not what you were going to say! And if this is your code word or whatever, then gross!”

With those words he disappeared back inside the house, leaving both his fathers laughing on the porch.

“That sass!” Oikawa wheezed. “He definitely got that from you.”

“Oh no, I’m not taking the full blame for this one; I wasn’t the one who couldn’t keep his foul mouth in check in the beginning!”

“He was only weeks old, there’s no way he even remembers that!”

“He used the word ‘fuck’ by the time he was nine years old!”

“Ah, the stigma around that is way too over hyped, anyways.”

They looked at each other and broke out into laughter again, before Iwaizumi pulled him in again and they shared a quick kiss before Eiji could come out to complain again.

“I’ll take you up on that X-Files marathon later,” Oikawa whispered and Iwaizumi mustered him intently.   
“The literal kind or the code word kind?”

To that, Oikawa only winked. “You’ll find out.” Then he added, “Let’s make a deal: You drive Eiji over to the sleepover, and when you come back I’ll be waiting on the couch, and you can check for yourself if I’m wearing clothes or not then.”

Iwaizumi gasped in feigned shock. “How scandalous!”

But Oikawa only grinned. “Scandalous isn’t the only thing I’ll be tonight, Hajime, that much I can promise.”

And if there was one thing anyone could be sure about Oikawa Tooru, it was that he always held his promises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first story I've ever written about Aged Up characters and I really enjoyed it!
> 
> I hope you liked the headcanons I have about the Iwaoi family. Eiji is a true sweetheart, and the reason that Iwaizumi's job isn't mentioned is that in my head he is a full-on house mom with a work-at-home side job, maybe he writes articles or blogs or something like that.
> 
> (also when I read through it once I realized I had forgotten to put in the prompt words, oops. I added them afterwards hehe)
> 
> Please leave kudos and/or comments, you will definitely make my day xx


	16. "Listen. No, really, listen."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa is a prince of a kingdom under attack and Iwa is his guard.

“I gotta get back.” Oikawa’s eyes were wide in shock as he stared at Iwaizumi, and the faint noises of battle were still scarcely audible in the distance as Iwaizumi blocked the doorway so Oikawa couldn’t get past.

“Listen. No, really, listen. I am sorry, Oikawa-sama, but I’m under strict orders to keep you safe here!”

“When will everyone stop acting like I’m made of glass? My family is out there, and I am not some helpless damsel, I can help them fight!”

“I am not doubting that, but battle is unpredictable and it’s a risk your mother isn’t willing for you to take.”

“She can decide over her own risks, but I won’t sit around while everyone else is being slaughtered! Have you seen how many warriors they brought?”

Iwaizumi sighed. “Which is exactly why your mother wants you to stay here, I assume. If your kingdom falls, Oikawa-sama, it will need someone to lead the negotiations.”

Oikawa gaped at him. “She expects us to lose?”

“As you said, there are many warriors. Shiratorizawa is powerful, and we weren’t ready for their attack.”

“Again, why the hell are we in here then? How can you be so calm just twiddling your thumbs when everyone else is fighting our battles?”

Iwaizumi growled. “Don’t think I enjoy being here. Those are my men dying out there, Oikawa-sama, and if I could, I would be the one leading them. But your mother was right in ensuring that this kingdom could at least have a shot at peace, which will only be possible if you stay alive somehow.  
The king and queen cannot back down from a battle, but if they’re gone there’s no one left to lead, so she made the only sensible decision by making you sit this out.”

“But…” Oikawa wasn’t stupid, of course, but still the prospect of sitting back while his family was taking the brunt of this attack didn’t set well with him. “Why wouldn’t they kill me? If they’re planning to overtake us, they’ll just finish me off too, and then I’d rather die on the battlefield than cooped up in my room!”

Iwaizumi sent him a pointed look.

“What?!” Oikawa yelled. “My parents want me to surrender?”

“It’s the only way. Shiratorizawa can’t kill you if you surrender willingly, and Seijoh will still have a lawful leader this way. If you don’t, they’ll just kill us all and take over.”

“I’d rather let them kill me than bow my head and give myself over!”

“Think of your kingdom!” Iwaizumi growled. “Do you really wanna leave your people under full control of those monsters?”

“What help will I be once I surrender? I’ll keep on wearing my title, but it’ll be worth nothing, and I’ll lose all power I might have had to protect anyone!”

“Shiratorizawa is ruthless, not lawless. They will have to negotiate with you, and yes, you will have to make sacrifices, but at least you can still fight for your people. I will not stand for you throwing away that chance simply for your pride.” Iwaizumi squared his shoulders, still blocking the doorway. “And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let them kill you.”

They stared at each other and several minutes passed, neither of them backing down. But it was Oikawa who lowered his gaze in the end.

He didn’t say anything more, just sat down on one of the chairs and stared at the ground.

They listened to the sounds of battle in the distance, listened to shouting and yelling and screams of pain, and when they heard the loud banging of the main gate bursting open, they knew it wouldn’t be long now.

“Iwa-chan?” Oikawa’s voice was wavering a bit as he stood up, but still he kept his head high and his back straight. “Please don’t die for me.”

Iwaizumi snorted, but the look he gave him was soft. “I don’t intend to, don’t worry. You won’t be alone.”

And so they stood and waited.

Waited for the shouts to come closer, waited for the footsteps to grow louder, and waited for the violet-clad knights to break through the door.

But when the knights entered, they didn’t see what they had expected to be frightened faces and pleas of mercy.

Instead, they saw two figures standing tall and proud, despite the raised hands of surrender.

Where there had been a prince and his servant, was now a new-made king and his warrior, and they didn’t blink once in the face of danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a shorter one again, I wrote it on the train on my way to university whilst trying to drown out the crazy traveling group yelling at like 8am and I hadn't had any coffee yet and yeah, that was no fun.  
Also, it's becoming a habit that I forget to insert the prompt words and then I always have to go back and find a place for them to fit ayyy.
> 
> I gotta say though, I'm really enjoying these Royalty AUs.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please consider leaving me kudos and/or comments! xx


	17. "There's just something about him."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PART 1
> 
> The one in which Iwaizumi is oblivious.

Iwaizumi started noticing small things about Oikawa.

It wouldn’t have been really weird if not for the fact that he found more and more things that he had never noticed before, and it confused him since they had grown up together and he had thought to know the other boy best.  
But now, every day, there was something else he noticed.

The way he flicked his hair after laughing at a joke for example.

Or how he glanced sideways towards Iwaizumi when he was bored in class to check if he was up for some note passing.

Or how his eyes widened just slightly when he was genuinely happy. Of course Iwaizumi had always been able to tell if Oikawa was really laughing because he wanted to laugh or if he was faking it, but up until now, he never realized how exactly he noticed.  
But now he knew it was always Oikawa’s eyes.

When Iwaizumi called him out for not getting enough sleep, it was because he was wearing concealer to hide the dark circles, but Iwaizumi noticed anyways.

When Oikawa was upset, there was this glimmering fire in his eyes, even as he smiled and laughed his way through it.

And the more time passed, the more of those things Iwaizumi started seeing and he was positive that it was slowly driving him insane.  
It even got so bad that he decided to consult Makki and Mattsun about it, but the two of them just mustered him with their questioning eyes and asked what had changed.

But Iwaizumi didn’t know.

“Nothing changed at all, everything’s the same, except that I keep noticing these things. There’s just something about him. Like, did you notice he changed the strap of his bag for example? It was red, now it’s white.”

Makki and Mattsun shook their heads.

“Yeah, well, I _did_ notice,” Iwaizumi huffed. “It’s infuriating. It’s like I got some weird superpowers, or maybe I’m on drugs. Maybe someone slipped me these things that increase concentration, and that’s why I am so noticing all these small things that usually slip past me but that doesn’t explain why it’s only him and…”

“Iwaizumi-san,” Makki interrupted. “Bro. My dude. My pal. Did it ever cross your mind that you’re seeing all those things about him because you started paying closer attention?”

Iwaizumi frowned. “Why would I do that?”

By now, Mattsun could hardly hide his chuckling anymore. “Use your brains. I’m sure you’ll figure this one out yourself.”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about!”

“Maybe something did change, but it wasn’t drugs or superpowers or anything alike. And maybe it just changed so gradually that you didn’t even notice.”

“And what exactly…” He paused as a thought crossed his mind. 

Nothing had changed in Oikawa’s and his situation, not their surroundings, not their family situations, not anything at school and not volleyball either. And it wasn’t about that, he realized.   
There was only one thing that had changed.  
Gradually, like Mattsun had said.

“Oh fuck.”

“Yup, in quite the literal sense if it goes well for you,” Makki grinned, and Iwaizumi wanted to die.

“You can’t tell him about this! Shit!”

Mattsun shook his head. “Nah, we’ll leave that to you, in your own time. Though I just have to say, the superpower theory was pretty dope.”

“Oh shut up!”

How the hell hadn’t he noticed?

Of course he wasn’t on drugs, of course Oikawa hadn’t just suddenly started doing all these things out of the blue, of course not.  
But how the hell could he have started noticing all these things about Oikawa, all these things he saw only because he was paying closer attention, and not notice the most obvious thing?

How the hell did he fall in love with his childhood best friend without even realizing?

But the next question that came to Iwaizumi’s mind was even bigger, and even more fearsome, and a little part of him wished the superpower theory had been the truth.

Because what the hell was he going to do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be Part 2.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it! Please consider leaving kudos and/or comments! xx


	18. "Secrets? I love secrets."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PART 2
> 
> The one in which Iwaizumi is bad at feelings.

It had been a few days since Iwaizumi had come to that horrifying conclusion - okay, maybe it wasn’t horrifying, but it sure as hell was scary and no matter how hard he thought about it, he really didn’t know what to do.  
He couldn’t just confront Oikawa, that was not an option.  
Even if - if! - Oikawa did return some of his feelings, asking him like that felt all wrong somehow.  
But how would he approach this situation instead? The topic wasn’t exactly one that just came up casually.

Makki and Mattsun had been having his back these past few days, but even they seemed to be growing impatient.  
Iwaizumi couldn’t even be mad at them, he was feeling the queasiness himself.  
He just wanted this out and gone, but he couldn’t find any way to make it work.

One day in school, when Oikawa was off entertaining his fangirls - and Iwaizumi was totally not sulking about it - the three of them sat down together and started discussing it again.  
It always started out like that, and then Mattsun would make some crazy suggestion, Makki would follow with something absolutely indecent, and in the end they still wouldn’t have found a solution.

“I don’t get what’s so wrong about just telling him,” Makki groaned and rubbed his eyes. “You guys have known each other forever. What could possibly happen?”

“I’m not concerned anything is gonna happen,” Iwaizumi replied. “But it feels wrong. I want to be sure he’s okay with this, I want to be sure he can handle it before I do anything.”

“He’s Oikawa Tooru, I think if anyone knows how to deal with confessions it’s him.”

That statement didn’t really brighten Iwaizumi’s mood. It’s true that Oikawa had been showered in confessions ever since he had risen to be Aoba Johsai’s shining star, but he had always politely declined.  
He probably shouldn’t feel so happy about this, but he did.

“Yeah but those were all acquaintances. I’m his best friends, and best friends shouldn’t fall for each other. It’s… bro code, or something.”

Makki laughed. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear the word ‘bro code’ coming out of your mouth. But to answer this: There’s nothing wrong with you falling for him, on the contrary, it’s actually pretty natural, considering how close the two of you are. Also, you’re gay as hell, so I would be more surprised if you _didn’t_ get the hots for him.”

“I didn’t ‘get the hots’ for him,” Iwaizumi hissed. “And there’s the whole other problem: I don’t even know if he’s gay.”

“He isn’t,” Mattsun chimed in, and Iwaizumi gaped at him with an incredulous look, but Mattsun continued, “He’s bisexual.”

“How the hell do you know?”

“Uh, I asked him?” Mattsun said and raised an eyebrow. “It’s not like he’s hiding it. I’m surprised you didn’t know, didn’t you ever talk about it?”

“It never came up,” Iwaizumi murmured. His thoughts were racing right now and he didn’t even try to get them back into order.  
So what if Oikawa was bi, that still didn’t mean he would return his feelings. And Iwaizumi really, really didn’t want to hurt their friendship, or worse, to hurt Oikawa himself, by confessing.  
He groaned and let his head sink forward on the table. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“You should just spit it out. Even if he doesn’t feel the same way, which I doubt, he won’t make a fuzz about it and hiding it is just hurting the both of you. If you grow any more distant from him, don’t you think he’ll start to wonder what’s wrong?”

“We’re not growing distant!” But deep down, he knew Mattsun was right. He had been avoiding Oikawa a little, but it was just so damn hard facing him when there was so much going on in his head and all he wanted to do was back the idiot into a wall and kiss his face off.

And as if on cue, an all too familiar voice chirped, “There you are, guys! Sorry for the delay, one of the girls baked all this stuff for me and I made sure to thank her… Here, try some.”  
Iwaizumi could feel movement beside him, but he still didn’t lift his head, he just couldn’t right now.  
“What were you guys talking about?” Oikawa asked, making Iwaizumi’s heart rate skyrocket.

“We’re having secrets,” Mattsun replied.

“Secrets? I love secrets! I want in!” Oikawa chirped and Iwaizumi could feel a jab to the side. “Is Iwa-chan dead? Did your secrets kill him?”

“He’s not dead,” Makki said, and his voice already had that certain tone and Iwaizumi snapped his head up to tell him to shut up, but it was to late. “He’s just hopelessly infatuated with you and doesn’t know how to ask for a date.”

The world was screeching to a halt. Iwaizumi couldn’t even play it off, he could just stare at Makki with the most venomous stare he could muster. How dare he?  
Iwaizumi was going to murder him. Even if this was meant as a joke, he would slowly and painfully murder him.

But Oikawa didn’t laugh. “Hm.” He cocked his head and tapped his finger against Iwaizumi’s arm again. “How does Saturday sound for you?”

Iwaizumi sputtered. “What?”

Oikawa just smiled. “Unless Makki was just joking, because in that case, awkward.”

“Y-you wanna go on a date?” Iwaizumi couldn’t believe his ears. Two seconds ago he had been ready to throw Makki off a cliff, and now Oikawa was actually asking him out?

“Yes. If you’ll have me.”

He was probably as red as a tomato by now. “Saturday sounds great.”

Oikawa hummed again and turned back to Makki and Mattsun, launching into a story of some incident in one of his classes and leaving Iwaizumi stunned.  
They were actually going on a date.

He had been obsessing it for the last few days, had lost sleep and probably shortened his lifespan by years, and all it had taken was some stupid joke and just like that they were going on a date.  
Iwaizumi couldn’t help but stare at Oikawa who was still telling his story enthusiastically, but he kept glancing at Iwaizumi and there was this particular, new glimmer in his eyes that filled Iwaizumi’s chest with warmth. This was actually happening.

Maybe Makki would get to live another day after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave me some kudos and/or comments, I'll be over the moon! xx


	19. "Yes, I admit it, you were right."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa is a stupid feverish hot mess.

“I can’t believe it! Do you even use your brain from time to time, Shittykawa?”

Oikawa just coughed in response. The boy was lying in bed with two thick blankets draped over him, and he looked miserable, to say the least.  
His eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks and nose were pink and the latter was running constantly, his hair was a mess and every two minutes or so his body shook with heavy coughs.

“It was your idea,” he croaked out miserably.

“It was not! I didn’t tell you to jump into a ice cold pond when it’s below zero outside!”

“You specifically said I _couldn’t_ do it. You know I can’t turn down a dare, Iwa-chan, and I made it, didn’t I?”

“Your coughing your lungs out.”

“But I was right. I could do it.”

“That was honestly the stupidest thing you ever did.”

Oikawa whined. “Iwa-chan! Say I was right!”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and sat down at the edge of the bed, adjusting the wet cloth on Oikawa’s forehead that was threatening to slide off. “Yes, I admit it, you were right. That doesn’t make it any better though, you stupid idiot.”

Oikawa hummed in response and closed his eyes, apparently too exhausted to argue with the second part of Iwaizumi’s statement.

Iwaizumi sighed. “What were you trying to prove, Shittykawa?”

“I was proving you wrong, obviously,” Oikawa responded, voice strained. 

Iwaizumi hated seeing him like this.  
It was normal to be annoyed by being sick, but with Oikawa, it was as if he was actively fighting his own body about it. If his parents and Iwaizumi hadn’t forced him too, he would probably still be up and running until he collapsed or something. It was just the way he was.

“You don’t need to prove anything to me.” The nagging feeling inside him just wouldn’t stop telling him that something was wrong about that situation. “You know that, right?”

Oikawa hummed. “It was just a dare, Iwa-chan.”

“It wasn’t meant as one.”

“I take it as one as soon as someone tells me I can’t do something.”

Iwaizumi sighed in frustration. “What you did was _dangerous_. You jumped from way too high, you could have landed wrong. You could have gone into shock from the cold water.”

“But I did it,” he replied and cracked his eyes open again, frowning.

“That’s beside the point. Hey.” He put a hand on Oikawa’s cheek because it was the only part of him showing from under all the blankets. “I don’t want you to feel like you need to prove yourself to me. I know you’re strong. I know you’d do the stupidest shit in the world if I dared you to, but that doesn’t mean you should. Do you think I see you as weak?”

Oikawa stared up at him and Iwaizumi couldn’t tell if his eyes were glassy because of being sick or if they were actually filling with tears. He was quiet for some time, but then he finally said, “It’s just… hard sometimes.”

“What is?” Iwaizumi asked softly. He knew that his best friend had a severe case of an inferiority complex, but it had rarely ever been an issue between the two of them.

“I just… ugh.” Oikawa groaned and let his head fall back against Iwaizumi’s cheek. “I know you don’t judge me, Iwa-chan, and it’s not that I don’t trust you, I swear. It’s just hard because sometimes I think you deserve better.”

Iwaizumi froze. “Better? What are you talking about?”

Oikawa made to answer but was interrupted by a coughing fit, and after he was done he groaned and sunk back against the pillows. “You’re pretty great, Iwa-chan. I mean look at us, I’m sick and it’s my own fault for being stupid, and yet here you are.”

“I’ll always stick with you, no matter how stupid you act.”

“I know. That’s the problem.” Oikawa sighed. “We’ve been friends forever, but tell me honestly, Iwa-chan, if you hadn’t known me before and met me today, would you still like me? Because I don’t want you to feel obliged to be my friend. I know I can be annoying.”

“Tooru!” Iwaizumi said, and there was so much force behind his words that Oikawa’s eyes snapped open wide and he flinched. “Sorry,” Iwaizumi added a bit less forcefully, but still his voice didn’t waver one bit. “I don’t feel obliged to be your friend! Do you really think if I didn’t like you I’d still be here?”

“I don’t know, you’re just too kind for your own good sometimes.”

“I’m also very honest, which is why I’m telling you, I’m only here because I genuinely like you. You’re a great person, and it’s honestly insulting that you think I couldn’t handle your random outbursts. You’re not too much to handle, not ever.”

“Iwa-chan…”

“You’re my best friend, did you get that, you idiot? And if you ever doubt that again, I will be the one throwing you into a cold ass pond!”

Oikawa chuckled and freed one of his hands from under the blankets to take Iwaizumi’s into his. “You wouldn’t.”

“Is that a dare? Because apparently we feel very strongly about dares in this house.”

“No no no,” Oikawa laughed, but it turned into a cough halfway. “I’m good, thanks. No more ponds.”

Normally Iwaizumi would have rapped him over the head by now, but considering he was probably already sporting a headache, Iwaizumi settled for just ruffling his hair.  
“Good decision. Now move over.”

Oikawa frowned. “What? Why?”

Rolling his eyes, Iwaizumi shoved him to one side of the bed and then crawled under the blanket and laid down next to him. “I’m staying, Shittykawa. Deal with it.”

“What if you get infected?”

“By your stupidity? I think I’m immune by now.”

“Iwa-chan!”

Iwaizumi chuckled and turned onto his side so he could look Oikawa directly in the face. He looked like a goddamn mess, but at least he was smiling now.  
“Go to sleep, I’ll be here.”

“You won’t leave?” Oikawa asked, eyelids drooping already, and Iwaizumi shook his head, reaching out and pulling his best friend closer until he was in his arms.

“I won’t leave you, Tooru. Not ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this rate I'm just vomiting out words now, I really wanna go to bed
> 
> Please leave me some kudos and/or comments xx


	20. "You could talk about it, you know?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa is sad and Iwaizumi notices.

There was lots of things Iwaizumi had learned about Oikawa over the years, and one of them was that whenever the other was sad or angry, he didn’t act all dark and broody.  
On the contrary, when his mood was at its worst, he was the most cheerful, all fake smiles and laughter thrown around carelessly.

Iwaizumi had learned to distinguish between normal laughter and the hollow one, he knew what smiles were real and which weren’t, and he also knew Oikawa wouldn’t drop this act until he was alone.

It happened occasionally and it usually wasn’t much of a problem, but this day was especially bad somehow.

Oikawa was so over the top cheerful that Iwaizumi really wondered how nobody else had caught on already. But of course, people loved Oikawa for his bubbly nature, and they didn’t pay much mind to anything else.

During lunch, Oikawa was laughing at Makki’s jokes and then babbling on about some teacher that had had the decency to not show up for class, and his voice was so shrill in Iwaizumi’s ears he could have sworn it was a siren droning on and on.  
It gave him a headache.

When Oikawa excused himself to go to the bathroom, Iwaizumi waited for a bit and then got up himself. He just couldn’t take it anymore.

Oikawa wasn’t in the stalls when Iwaizumi entered the room, he was standing in front of the sinks instead and splashed water in his face. His shoulders were trembling slightly.

“You could talk about it, you know?” Iwaizumi asked, making Oikawa yelp and whirl around at the unexpected sound. When he saw who it was, he deflated. “Iwa-chan, you scared me.”

There was water dripping down his face. Iwaizumi sighed and grabbed a few paper towels, then stepped closer to hand them over so Oikawa could dry off.  
He didn’t mentioned the other’s red-rimmed eyes.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Oikawa replied and carefully dabbed his face dry as not to roughen it up too much with the towel.

Iwaizumi growled. “Don’t play dumb with me. You’re obviously not okay, and stupid too if you think I wouldn’t notice.”

Sighing, Oikawa threw the towel into a trash bin next to the sink. “I just haven’t slept well, you don’t need to worry about it.”

But as he tried to step past Iwaizumi, the latter blocked his path. “Hell no. Don’t think for a second that I’m buying that.”

“So? You’re gonna hold me here until I give you a different answer?”

“Yup.”

Oikawa sighed again. “Iwa-chan, I have classes.”

“Then you better start talking soon.” He just couldn’t stand it. He hated the act Oikawa put on, but what he hated even more was how the other absolutely wrecked himself whenever he was feeling bad. It pained him to see it.

There was a small, frustrated noise coming from the back of Oikawa’s throat. “Can’t we all have a bad day some time?”

“This is not just a bad day. Look, I’m not judging you or anything, and if you wanna keep acting in front of everyone else, that’s fine too. But don’t do that shit with me. You can talk to me.”

Oikawa’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I know, Iwa-chan. I’m just…” When he looked up again, there were tears shimmering in his eyes and Iwaizumi immediately stepped closer to put an arm around his shoulders. Oikawwa sniffled. “Everything’s falling apart lately, and I’m not really handling it well.”

“What exactly do you mean?” Iwaizumi asked softly.

“I don’t know, I just feel like my life is a mess lately. My knee is acting up again, and I’m tired all the time because I can’t sleep at night, and when I’m home my parents yell at each other the whole time, and fuck, I can’t concentrate on anything like that, you know? I got a B on an English paper today.”

To anyone else, a B probably wouldn’t have sounded like an issue, but Oikawa usually was a straight A student, and he deemed everything below a failure.  
And if there was one thing Oikawa Tooru couldn’t handle well, it was failure.

Now that it was out, he hung his head. “Sorry. I’m just a bit stressed out.”

“Don’t apologize,” Iwaizumi replied and pulled him in for a quick hug. When they pulled apart again, he said, “I can’t help with your knee, but you’re sleeping over today. We can study together, there won’t be anyone yelling, and we’ll go to bed early so you can catch up on some sleep. Does that sound okay?”

Oikawa nodded and wiped at his eyes.

Iwaizumi continued, “You can always come over, okay? Whenever you need to, even if it’s just to have a moment of peace and quiet.” He sighed as the bell rang. “Come on, we should get back. But for future reference, talk to me about these things, okay? We’ll find a solution.”

“Thank you,” Oikawa said quietly, and though he wasn’t crying anymore, his voice was still a bit shaky. “Seriously, Iwa-chan. I really don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Good thing I’m here, then,” Iwaizumi said and nudged Oikawa with his shoulder. “Come on, dumbass. Only two classes left, then we can get out of here.”

Oikawa smiled and nudged him back. “Can we get milkshake after school?”

“You think I’ll support your unhealthy addiction?”

“We don’t have to.”

Iwaizumi scoffed. “Like hell we don’t. I’m paying.”

He got a smile from Oikawa in response, and after a few moments he realized that it was a genuine one.

The day didn’t end as bad as it had started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm projecting my sleep deprivation and unhealthy milkshake addiction onto Oikawa bc this is how we roll babes
> 
> I'm officially half dead now and after writing four prompts because I'm way behind schedule, I think I'll finally retire to sleep.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please consider leaving kudos and/or comments xx


	21. "Change is annoyingly difficult."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Iwaoi are friends with benefits and heavily pining.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi had been close ever since he could remember. They had grown up together, had gone to the same kindergarten, same elementary and middle school, and now at Aoba Johsai, they were still inseparable.

Jokes about them being a couple hadn’t been unusual and they always laughed it off without the topic ever becoming awkward.

Nothing much had changed between them over the years. They were as close as ever and one was rarely seen without the other, if one of them was sick at home, word spread around immediately.  
Oikawa and Iwaizumi were a package deal and everybody knew it.

At some point though, around the time when they just started high school, there was just a tiny change in their relationship.  
It all started with the first volleyball match they won at Seijoh with both of them on the court, and they were over the moon because it was one step towards their shared dream: To advance to nationals and obliterate everyone in their way until they reached the top.

They went home to celebrate, and in the shadows of the night, Oikawa pressed his lips to Iwaizumi for the first time.  
It wasn’t romantic, just a spur of the moment thing, a reaction fueled by ecstasy and joy that hadn’t found any other way to express itself. And from there on, expressing their feelings in a more corporeal way started to become a common thing between them.

Nudges became touches, hugs became kisses, and spoken words became sounds swallowed up by the shelter of the sheets.  
Oikawa told himself it was only natural since they had always been so close. It was all casual, just a way to express what they couldn’t speak, and whatever happened in their bedrooms, stayed in their bedrooms.  
They never bothered to tell anyone, because it was nobody’s business but theirs.

And it all worked splendidly, until one day a girl walked up to Iwaizumi during lunch, and Oikawa could feel his heart rate speeding up so fast that all the blood rushing upwards towards his brain made him dizzy. Mattsun asked what was wrong, and Oikawa was quick to blame it on his empty stomach.  
There was no reason for him to be jealous, after all.

But if that had been true, then it seemed his stomach had it out for him on all the days that followed. The dizziness reappeared whenever Oikawa saw Iwaizumi and the girl dancing around each other, and it was excruciating because even a blind man could see what was going on between them.  
Oikawa told himself he was just irritated because the two of them wouldn’t get a move on.

But when he thought about them getting together for real, he found himself in a bathroom stall trying to keep his lunch from making a guest appearance again.

He fled into the comfort of Iwaizumi’s arms that night, savoring each touch, each kiss, every little sensation of heat from bare skin under his fingertips.  
He wanted to hold on and never let go.

Three days later Iwaizumi pulled him aside before lunch with a serious look in his eyes, and Oikawa could tell by just glancing at him what was going on. He could read the other like a book.  
“I’m together with Yuki now.”  
Oikawa forced a smile onto his face. This was the only thing he was good for, wasn’t it?  
He had only been a pretty face in Iwaizumi’s bed after all, and of course he had known all along, but that didn’t mean that it hurt any less.  
But he kept on playing his role, like he always did, smiling and looking pretty and taking everything that was thrown at him.  
“Congratulations, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi glanced behind him. “You know this means that what we’re doing can’t continue.”  
Even though he had seen it coming, it still felt like a punch to the face. And in the aftermath of that shock, Oikawa lost control of his tongue for a second. “Why not? It’s just platonic fooling around.”  
The look on Iwaizumi’s face looked like he was in pain. “Yes. But I’m in a relationship now, so it has to stop. Think about how you would feel in Yuki’s situation.”

Oikawa didn’t have to try hard to imagine that. It had been his reality for quite some time, and now that it was official he wanted to claw Yuki’s eyes out more than ever.  
But he couldn’t do that to Iwaizumi, and he knew he had no claim to him anyways.  
So he resorted to doing the only thing he knew.

Smile. Look pretty. Take it.

It had always been the same, of course it wouldn’t be different now.  
He had been a pretty face until someone prettier had come along, someone with long black hair and soft curves and a sweet voice who was short and dainty and knew to say all the right words all the time.  
Oikawa couldn’t offer any of that, and the only thing he ever knew to wield like a weapon, his own attractiveness, hadn’t been enough to get Iwaizumi to stay.  
He had never felt so defeated in his life.

He smiled through the rest of lunch, listened to Iwaizumi’s story of how Yuki and he got together, saw them sitting together and cuddling up and her touching the spot on Iwaizumi’s back that Oikawa had raked his nails over a week ago, as if marking his skin would somehow make Iwaizumi his.  
He excused himself to go to the bathroom, and that’s where Makki found him when the bell rang, sobbing into his hands.

The following days, Mattsun and Makki kept a close eye on him, but he really didn’t feel like elaborating, and Iwaizumi was too caught up in his fresh new love to notice that anything was wrong anyways.  
Oikawa didn’t know whether to be glad about it or not.  
He just knew that every day of seeing the two of them together, laughing, kissing, holding hands, there was a deep void opening up inside of him, and at some point, it didn’t close anymore.

The last thing he could still hold to his name, his masterfulness in keeping up pretenses, was slowly crumbling away, because he just couldn’t take it anymore.  
Being discarded like that hurt like hell, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make these feeling go away, and so instead of continuing those futile attempts, he just took himself out of the picture.

He started seeing Iwaizumi less and less, and though it hurt, too, at least he didn’t have to smile through the feeling of his heart shattering.

Even when the initial lovey-dovey phase of Iwaizumi’s and Yuki’s relationship faded and they started acting like sensible people instead of love-drunk idiots again, Oikawa kept his distance.  
Iwaizumi asked him to hang out a few times, but he had become so bad at pretending that he couldn’t risk facing his best friend again. Not until this blew over.  
Though he wasn’t sure that would ever happen, at least it didn’t feel like it would.

When Oikawa turned Iwaizumi down for seeing a movie again, there was actual hurt on the other’s face, and Oikawa wanted to scream, or cry, or both. Hurting his best friend had never been part of this plan, but it seemed like he had fucked that up now too.

The next day, he stayed home from school.  
He had never skipped a day before in his life unless he had been seriously ill, but today he was sure if he had to walk into school and see Iwaizumi he would just die right there on the spot.  
So he kept his blinds shut and hid away from the world under his sheets, only that there was nobody there with him to provide comfort this time, and he told his mother he was sick before crying himself back to sleep.

He was woken up by the door to his room opening. He rubbed his eyes and prepared to tell his mother that he was fine and just wanted to sleep some more, but the words caught in his throat as he saw Iwaizumi stepping in.  
He closed the door behind him and walked over, dropping some papers on his desk before sitting down on the edge of his bed.

“Hey.”

“What are you doing here?” Oikawa asked, and winced at how hostile it sounded. He pushed himself up so he was in a sitting position leaning against the headboard.

If Iwaizumi had noticed his tone, he chose to ignore it. “I brought you the homework from today. Also, I was worried. You didn’t even text me that you were sick.”

Oikawa couldn’t help it, his eyes just filled up with tears, so he sniffled to mask it really quick. “Sorry. Caught a cold, I slept through most of the morning.”

Iwaizumi furrowed his eyebrows. “Your throat sounds fine.”

“Well excuse me, I didn’t know you had a medical degree all of a sudden,” Oikawa growled, but it only seemed to fuel his tears and some of them spilled over. Traitors.

Sighing, Iwaizumi cocked his head. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing.” Oikawa closed his eyes, willing the tears to stop. He wasn’t very successful. “I’m sorry, Iwa-chan, I didn’t mean to snap. I’m just tired.”

“I’m not stupid. First you avoid me, then you’re ‘sick’ all of a sudden, and now you won’t even talk to me?”

Oikawa opened his eyes again. “First of all, I wasn’t avoiding you.”

“Yes, you were,” Iwaizumi replied, voice calm yet firm.

“Maybe you were just too caught up with Yuki.” It wasn’t true, and they both knew it.

Iwaizumi snorted. “If you had not been avoiding me, Shittykawa, you may have noticed that Yuki and I split up about four days ago.”

That make Oikawa’s gaze snap up. Surely he had heard wrong. “What?”

“She broke up with me on Thursday.”

Oikawa’s brain worked on its highest gears, but he couldn’t remember if he had even seen Iwaizumi on Thursday. The other was right, of course, he had been avoiding him, but had he really been _that_ distant?

“I… why? And why didn’t you tell me?”

“She said I had too much other things on my mind,” Iwaizumi said, and he sounded too calm in Oikawa’s ears. “Which she was right about. And I tried to tell you, you know, but you wouldn’t talk to me.”

Oikawa hung his head. There was so much going on in his head, he didn’t even know where to start sorting through it.  
There was a little excitement building up in his chest at hearing Yuki wasn’t Iwaizumi’s girlfriend anymore, but when he thought about that excitement he felt guilty immediately. This was his best friend, and he was probably devastated.  
And even with Yuki out of the picture, it didn’t change anything.  
So he made his best efforts to suppress that spark of warmth in his chest.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t been feeling well lately, but I shouldn’t have treated you so shitty. I should have been there for you.”

“I don’t really care about that,” Iwaizumi said. “I mean, I like Yuki, but there was a reason we didn’t stay together. There’s not even any hard feelings between us. I don’t need you to comfort me about this breakup, I need you to tell me what’s bothering you.”

“I’m really just not feeling well. Practice has been crazy lately, and school is stressing me out, and competition season is starting soon…”

He felt Iwaizumi’s hand on his, and once again he couldn’t build a dam fast enough before the tears started spilling again. “No, Iwa-chan, I can’t do this again.”

Iwaizumi looked down at their intertwined hands and then back up at Oikawa. “What?”

It hurt and he needed to let go, but Oikawa hung onto Iwaizumi’s hand like a life buoy. It was tearing him apart and he just couldn’t take it any longer.  
“I can’t go back to being your pretty little secret in the dark. I can’t sit through this and smile and take it and dread the day you’ll show up with someone else to replace me.”

“What-”

“I have feelings for you, Hajime,” he sobbed. “And I know you don’t want that and that’s okay, but I can’t go back to doing what we did, knowing it means nothing to you. It _hurts_, okay?”

“You-”

“And yes, I know I should have told you sooner and this was selfish and I don’t even have the right to say any of this, but I was jealous of Yuki and that’s why I avoided you. I thought distance would be better for both of us, and to be honest, that might still be a good idea. I don’t expect you to stay, I know this would just make things-”

“Tooru!” Iwaizumi’s voice was firm as he grabbed Oikawa by the chin to stop his babbling, and with the other hand he gently wiped the tears away, even though they kept falling. “Take a breath, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

“But-”

“Hear me out, dumbass. Yuki broke up with me because she realized I had stronger feelings for you than I could ever have for her. I shouldn’t have agreed to date her in the first place, because I already knew the truth.”

Oikawa gaped at him, one of the few occasions that rendered him speechless. After a few seconds he choked out, “But… but why did you agree in the first place, then?”

Iwaizumi smiled and he wiped some more tears away. “Because I was trying to distance myself from you. When we had this thing going, I realized that I was beginning to feel more than I should have, and I agreed to date Yuki to end this thing between us.”

“Why?” Oikawa asked, even more incredulous. He wasn’t even sure if he was really awake and not dreaming at this point.

“Because I didn’t think you felt the same way. You kept insisting it was only platonic, so I thought…”

Oikawa let out a sound that was something between a sob and a laugh. “I only said that because I didn’t want it to stop. When Yuki started approaching you, I thought you’d be falling for her right away, and that I had just a little hope that if I made it clear it was only platonic between us, that maybe we wouldn’t have to stop. It was selfish, I know, but…”

“It wasn’t selfish,” Iwaizumi interrupted, and he was smiling now. “I’m just kind of mad at us both for being so stupid, because we could have avoided so much misunderstandings.” His gaze turned soft. “I hate seeing you hurt, Tooru. I’m so sorry about all of this.”

Oikawa laughed, blinking away some tears that still wouldn’t stop falling, but it felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. “As you said, we’re both idiots, so you have nothing to apologize for.”

“Still, I never wanted this to happen.” For a moment, he looked unsure and squeezed Oikawa’s hand lightly. “Can I kiss you?”

But Oikawa was done with words, and so as an answer, he just grabbed Iwaizumi by the shoulders and pulled him down so their lips met.  
They had kissed countless times before, but nothing, not one single kiss, compared to this one.

Iwaizumi made a noise in the back of his throat and wrapped his hands around Oikawa’s waist, pulling him in closer, while Oikawa himself buried his hands in Iwaizumi’s hair and tried to drink in all of the sensation he had missed so much.

When they pulled apart again, they both were grinning and Oikawa didn’t let go of Iwaizumi’s neck, hanging onto him as if letting go meant losing him again.

“Just for the record,” he looked Iwaizumi dead in the eyes, “this was not platonic.”

Iwaizumi laughed and bent down to meet his lips once again. “It better not be.” Then he leaned back a bit, smiling. “Because I want to call you my boyfriend from now on, and that’s doesn’t really agree with Platonism.”

Oikawa huffed. “Screw Plato, honestly.”

Laughing, Iwaizumi hugged him tight. “Screw Plato indeed.”

Change was annoyingly difficult, but when it came through, it was all the more worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be SHORT because I'm five days behind and now it's one of the longest prompts I've written so far, because I planned it out to be just some short intense emotional stuff and then the boys were like HAHA how about we fall into some deep angst, mhm, that's right, try dealing with that!
> 
> Anyways, I hope you liked it and as always, please consider leaving me some kudos and/or prompts xx
> 
> Also, my instagram is @streetsoldierin for anyone who wants to see me struggle through Nanowrimo this year, and also get updates on that huge ass Iwaoi fanfic I'm writing (and the first draft is already finished, yay!)


	22. "We could have a chance."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa is a guardian angel who falls in love with his assigned human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Trigger Warnings:**
> 
> Homophobia, Injuries, Major Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide
> 
> This is a dark one, stay safe babes xx

The first thing Oikawa falls in love with aren’t those beautiful olive-green eyes or the way those eyebrows arch up in an elegant bow from time to time, though he has to admit those are very attractive features.  
No, the first thing he falls in love with is Iwaizumi Hajime’s genuineness. 

At age 8, Iwaizumi stands up for a boy that is picked on. Not because he knows him or because of ulterior motive, but simply because he recognizes the wrongness of it. 

At age 12, he tells someone to stop crushing bugs, and when asked as to why he simply replies that all life is precious. 

At age 14, Iwaizumi reclines his first confession. He is gentle with the girl and makes sure she’s okay, but he doesn’t lie for her sake either. 

At age 16, he reprimands someone for using a racial slur and gets a bloody nose for it. He doesn’t regret it though, not one bit. 

At age 18, he cries over his cat’s death. He doesn’t try to hide his pain from his friends, but is open with his tears and doesn’t treat emotions as weakness. 

At age 20, Iwaizumi outs himself. He doesn’t make it an announcement, only mentions it on the side since it came up anyways and he never intended to hide it. 

At age 21, he is attacked and hospitalized by people calling him slurs. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s open about his sexuality, and he stays true to himself even after that. 

At any age, Iwaizumi remains a kind and caring man, upright and well-mannered, and unapologetic for anything that he is. 

And Oikawa, who is watching from a distance, is awestruck. 

He knows what love looks like; he’s seen it more than enough in his life. He knows the different kinds of love; the one that blooms in an instant, the one that takes a while to unfold, the one that doesn’t start off right, the one that fails, the one that stays, the one that multiplies over time. He has seen those and many more.  
He knows what love looks like, but he never thought he’d be able to feel it. 

But these days when he looks at Iwaizumi, he feels an inexplicable longing, a tug in his chest that pulls him towards the man.  
He wants to talk to him, wants to see those eyes staring back into his, wants to make him laugh, he wants that and so much more and it kills him that he can’t. 

If it were a normal situation, he would just approach Iwaizumi to have that shot at love, he could at least try.  
But Iwaizumi doesn’t know him. Iwaizumi has never seen him. 

Because Oikawa is a guardian angel, and all he’ll ever be is an unknown presence in Iwaizumi’s life, silent and invisible. 

Oikawa ponders over it for years. The longing gets worse, the time spent watching Iwaizumi gets painful, and simply _being_ turns into misery.  
When he asks around, he’s only met with incomprehension. No guardian angel ever felt what he felt. Nobody believes him. Everyone tells him it will pass.  
Iwaizumi is a mortal, after all, and Oikawa won’t be watching him forever. 

But Oikawa can’t let it go. He has spent so many years on this earth, but none of them has been as excruciating as these last few.  
He knows the pain won’t pass. If he just stands back and watches like he is supposed to, he’ll have to watch Iwaizumi grow older and eventually die, going to the one place where Oikawa can’t follow.  
Not as long as he’s immortal. 

He tries to convince himself it can’t be true love. He tries to tell himself he’ll get over it. He tries to ignore the ever-growing pain in his soul.  
He tries until he can’t anymore. 

Ripping out his wings hurts. A lot. 

If it wasn’t for the one part of his mind staying focused, he may not have gone through with it.  
But his soul feels like it’s torn apart at this point, and the pain in his wings has nothing on that. 

Iwaizumi finds Oikawa Tooru on a late summer evening, bleeding and almost unconscious, but when he crouches down and touches his arm, Oikawa’s eyes open and flood with tears.  
He’s here. He can see him, hear him, feel him. 

_We could have a chance._

Iwaizumi mistakes the tears for signs of pain, and he calls an ambulance which brings Oikawa to the nearest hospital. He’s too weak to protest and as he’s slipping into darkness, a terror settles in his bones as he realizes there’s no guarantee he’ll see Iwaizumi again. 

But when he opens his eyes for the second time as a mortal, Iwaizumi is sitting right next to his hospital bed. 

Oikawa had a whole backstory planned out. He wanted to tell Iwaizumi that he was new in town, that he had worked as a security guard, and that he lost his job and was now looking for a new life.  
None of those were lies, per se. 

But Iwaizumi surprises him by saying that Oikawa seems familiar to him. That he feels familiar. 

So Oikawa tells him the truth.  
And Iwaizumi runs out of the room, just to come back two minutes later with an apology on his lips. 

They talk. A lot. At first in the hospital, then a few days later Oikawa is released and Iwaizumi takes him to his home. 

They spend days together. Weeks.  
The feeling of being around each other is so familiar already, even though it has never been conscious for Iwaizumi. He still knows, though. 

When they kiss for the first time, Oikawa cries.  
It’s the moment when all his doubts disappear, when he’s sure that leaving Heaven was the right decision and that nothing, nothing in his former immortal life could have held anything as pure and beautiful and happiness-inducing as having Iwaizumi Hajime by his side. 

This love between them is the kind that stays.  
Oikawa falls for Iwaizumi all over again every day, and though they sometimes bicker and argue, they always stick together. 

One day Iwaizumi asks Oikawa if fate is real, and Oikawa doesn’t know, but he says he believes in it. Because what they have, it can’t be anything but meant to be. 

Oikawa rarely thinks about Heaven these days. Sometimes Iwaizumi asks him what it was like, and if he misses it, and how his wings looked, and if he has a new guardian angel now. Oikawa answers all the questions, but never feels regret.  
He’d trade Heaven for that beautiful man every day. 

The day that Iwaizumi Hajime gets down on one knee and asks Oikawa to marry him is the happiest day in his life. He kisses Iwaizumi as if it was the first and last time, and he never wants to let go. 

The day that Oikawa Tooru stands in a church dressed in a white suit and waits for his soon-to-be husband to arrive, he thinks this is an even happier day than the day of the engagement.  
All their friends are here, and Iwaizumi’s family too, and Oikawa knows his own family is watching them as well.  
There’s someone else watching Iwaizumi now, and since Oikawa is a mortal himself, there’s probably someone watching him, too.  
He doesn’t know if they approve, if they’re happy for him or if they curse him out for the treason he committed, but he doesn’t really care anyways, all he cares about is that beautiful man he will get to call husband very soon. 

The wait at the altar feels like the longest he’s ever waited, and only when the guests start to get restless, does he realize that this is, in fact, taking too long. 

He keeps waiting at the altar, but Iwaizumi never arrives. 

The day that was supposed to be his happiest turns into his worst nightmare when his phone rings and the sympathetic voice of a stranger tells him that Iwaizumi has been in an accident and is currently getting surgery.  
The night that Oikawa meant to spend with Iwaizumi is now spent in a hospital waiting room, crying and hoping and praying for his fiance's life. He doesn’t know if the angels listen to him anymore. 

Iwaizumi Hajime dies that night. 

And Oikawa throws a fit in his rage and pain that – if he was still an angel – would cause thunderstorms and flood waves. He cries until there are no tears left, he screams until his lungs give up on him, and he punches the wall until his knuckles bleed – red, mortal blood, reminding him of Iwaizumi’s mortality, of his own mortality and that if he hadn’t given up on his immortal life, if he had watched over Iwaizumi instead of pursuing his love, if he had just done the job that was assigned to him then maybe Iwaizumi would still be alive right now. 

The thought haunts him, and he knows he’ll never be able to let it go.  
Guardian angels can’t keep everything from happening. They do what they can to protect their humans, but since humanity started distancing itself from the natural flow of things, some things are harder to prevent.  
But Oikawa wouldn’t have let it happen to Iwaizumi. He doesn’t blame the angel that wasn’t fast enough to stop the truck that hit Iwaizumi’s cab, he only blames himself for leaving and giving the job to someone else only so he could pursue his selfish desires. 

Before he fell, he used to think that human life was fleeting and too short, but still he gladly sacrificed his immortality for one lifetime with Iwaizumi. Now that he is gone, there is no purpose, no direction for Oikawa, and the rest of his mortal life seems way too long. 

He doesn’t pray for the angels to take him back to Heaven. They probably wouldn’t, anyways, but he doesn’t want to try.  
A mortal life seems long to him now, an immortal one unbearable. 

Oikawa Tooru thought the one obstacle he had to overcome for love was the barrier between the mortal world and the immortal one, but he didn't think about what came beyond mortal life. Not like this, anyways, of course he knew that life would end and they’d pass on to death, but he counted on a lifetime to live before that happened.  
How stupid it seems now, that he could have forgotten, he, a guardian angel that used to be surrounded with the prospect of death every day. 

He only knows one thing now.  
He took the fall from Heaven for Iwaizumi, passing from immortal level to the mortal one. Back then, he already knew there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to be with the love of his life, the one he always felt he was destined to be with. 

It’s the reason he’s standing on this rooftop now, the city lights glistening below. He takes a step towards the edge. Another one. Another one.  
If there’s an angel with him right now, he’s probably screaming at him to stop. Guarding angels can only lessen the threat of deadly danger, but they cannot stop death itself. They can deescalate situations, arranging butterfly effects so their humans avoid death, but once the bullet is shot, there’s no stopping it. 

Oikawa knows there’s one place he couldn’t travel to as an immortal.  
His choice to descend from immortality may have cost Iwaizumi his life, and he’ll forever feel the paining guilt about that, but it also gave him the ability to follow him into death. 

The barrier between immortality and mortality hasn’t stopped Oikawa before. The border between life and death won’t either.  
He’ll overcome any obstacle if it means being with Iwaizumi Hajime, that beautiful, beautiful man. 

And that’s why Oikawa Tooru steps forward and falls for a second time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of cheated with this one because I wrote it before October? But I'm still five prompts behind schedule and this fit into the category, so here we go.
> 
> I'm so sorry for putting you all through the feels, I hope you still enjoyed the story though!
> 
> Please drop some kudos and/or comments! xx


	23. "You can't give more than yourself."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Iwaizumi overworks himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings
> 
> Fainting

Something was up with Iwaizumi lately.

Oikawa was the first to notice, but eventually, their other friends started catching on too, and they were watching in worry as Iwaizumi seemed to be spiraling down.  
He was lots more snappish and his fuse was unusually short these days, like when Makki made some stupid joke and Iwaizumi just got up and left.

Oikawa noticed that he wasn’t eating during lunch, either, and sometimes he would just lay his head down on the table and close his eyes for the entire break.  
Soon, dark circles were visible under his eyes, and Oikawa couldn’t just ignore it any longer.

When he went by Iwaizumi’s house, though, his friend was just about to leave.  
“I’m late for work, Oikawa, what is it?”  
“Just felt like dropping by. Are you working at the café again?”

Iwaizumi grunted in affirmation and wrenched his bike out of the garage. “Yes, and I really have to hurry.”

Oikawa held up his hands as if surrendering. “I won’t keep you, then. Do you wanna come by later? We still have that movie marathon planned, you know.”

“Can’t,” Iwaizumi answered shortly as he mounted the bike. “I still haven’t studied for that biology exam tomorrow, so I gotta get on that. See ya.”

And just like that, he was off. Oikawa stood there for a little while and watched him disappear around the corner, contemplating.  
Something was very obviously wrong, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it yet, and it bothered him.  
When he went home, a thousand thoughts were spinning around in his head.

The next day at school, Iwaizumi arrived just as the bell rang to their biology exam.  
His uniform was ruffled, his naturally spiky hair was even messier than usually, and the circles he was sporting under his eyes were darker than ever.  
Oikawa exchanged worried glances with Mattsun and Makki, but since the exam was starting right away, they didn’t get any chance to approach Iwaizumi.

Oikawa vowed to talk to him during lunch, but when the time rolled around, Iwaizumi was nowhere to be seen. They looked for him every place they could imagine, but he wasn’t there.  
Not Oikawa was really starting to get worried.

At afternoon practice, Iwaizumi was back again, though a few minutes late, and he acted as if nothing had happened at all.  
Oikawa instructed the team on their exercises under the supervision of Coach Irihata, and he kept a narrow eye on Iwaizumi who just seemed totally out of it.

They practiced a few spikes together, and Iwaizumi’s timing was off. Oikawa was sure his tosses hadn’t changed at all, but still Iwaizumi kept missing the ball.  
After an hour, he called a break, and watched Iwaizumi limp to the changing rooms with worried eyes.  
Quickly, he looked over to the coach and motioned that he would follow, and the old man gave his okay by nodding, so Oikawa rushed after Iwaizumi.

When he entered the changing rooms, Iwaizumi was leaning against the lockers, eyes closed and breaths shallow, and it pained Oikawa to see him like this.  
“Iwa-chan.”  
When he heard Oikawa enter, he flinched and opened his eyes, and Oikawa stepped closer, raising his hands in a calming manner. “Relax, it’s just me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Iwaizumi opened his mouth and pushed off the lockers, but before he could say a word, his legs gave out under him and he collapsed.  
With a surprised yelp, Oikawa jumped forward and caught him before he could hit the floor, slowly lowering him down instead.  
“Iwa-chan!”

Iwaizumi groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. “’m fine, just give me a second.”

“Fine?! You just collapsed on me! Do I need to call an ambulance?”

“No,” Iwaizumi answered, but there was no force behind his voice. He sounded so tired.

Oikawa shuffled around a bit until he was in a better sitting position and Iwaizumi was curled up next to him, head resting against his upper arm.

“Please tell me what’s wrong,” Oikawa tried again, more softly this time. “Whatever it is, you can’t keep doing it to yourself, I mean look at you.”

“I’m just a little exhausted lately,” Iwaizumi murmured. “I can handle myself, Shittykawa.”

“You very obviously cannot, otherwise we wouldn’t be here on the floor.”

“I took it too far, okay. I won’t do it again.”

“But Iwa-chan…” Oikawa looked down on his friend and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, wanting to protect him from whatever was obviously eating at him. “What is it that’s stressing you out so much? Is it work? School?”

Iwaizumi sighed and closed his eyes again. “Kind of everything.”

“Well, I know it’s stressful with exams starting now and stuff. Maybe you can ask the coffee shop for some time off?”

Another sigh. “I can’t, really. And it’s not only the coffee shop, you know? I started up at the grocery store, too.”

Oikawa gaped at him. “You’re working two jobs? During exam time? How?”

The response was a chuckle, but it didn’t sound very joyous. “I take night shifts. And if I can’t, I switch to studying during the night. That’s why I’ve been a bit tired lately, I guess.”

“But… why? You’re not stupid, you have to see this isn’t good for you.”

“I…” Iwaizumi huffed and opened his eyes again. “Oikawa, my parents are struggling with money again. And with Christmas coming up, they’re going crazy because you know, there’s this huge family party on Christmas Eve every year and we’re supposed to be hosting and… well, they need me right now.”

“Oh, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sighed and supported his friend as he made to sit up. “I get that, I do, but… this isn’t okay. You can’t give more than yourself, and I bet your parents wouldn’t want you to wreck yourself like that.”

“I know but… I feel awful seeing them struggle like that.”

“And I’m sure they would feel awful seeing you struggle. You literally collapsed from exhaustion a few minutes ago, how long do you think you’ll be able to keep this up?”

Iwaizumi huffed. “You’re one to talk.”

“I learned from it,” Oikawa replied, glancing at the white knee brace on his right leg. “As you should have, since you were the one who drove me to the hospital. I don’t wanna have to do the same thing. Please, Iwa-chan, let me help.”

“How?”

Oikawa thought about it for a moment. “How about this: You know my family isn’t that huge so the house is always empty on Christmas Eve anyways. Let’s combine our family parties. My parents can host.”

“Oikawa…”

“Don’t say you won’t accept that. You know damn well money isn’t exactly a problem for my parents, and our families are so close anyways, so why not celebrate together? It won’t solve your parents struggles, but it might help to ease them a little. And you could maybe at least quit one job?” He looked down at Iwaizumi with pleading eyes. “Please, Iwa-chan, I can’t keep watching you destroy yourself.”

Iwaizumi cocked his head, considering, but then finally, he nodded. “Alright. Let’s talk to our parents about it.”

A smile spread on Oikawa’s face. “Okay. And I’m coming over later to study, so I can see you’re going to bed at a decent time.”

“I don’t need you to babysit me,” Iwaizumi grumbled, but Oikawa just waved him off. “Prove that you can actually take care of yourself and I’ll stop. Also, practice is over for you today.”

“What?” Iwaizumi’s head shot up.

“You heard me. You’re in no state to put your body under strain right now, so go home and get some rest.”

“I can still train… come on, it’s only like one and a half hours left…”

But Oikawa was having none of it. “As your captain and best friend, I’m telling you no. You can come back to practice when I don’t have to worry about you fainting, and I’ll see to it that we’ll get you there again.”  
He wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi and pulled him in for a hug. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

Iwaizumi sighed, but returned the hug and Oikawa could feel him relax in his arms. “Okay.”

They sat like this for several minutes before getting up - Oikawa gave Iwaizumi a hand - and Oikawa nodded. “I should head back, but you get changed and go home. I’ll come by later.”

Iwaizumi nodded, and Oikawa made to leave, but before he could step out, he heard Iwaizumi calling out to him once again. “Oikawa?”

He halted, turned around. “Yes?”

“Thank you.”

A smile spread over Oikawa’s lips. This idiot was just too kind for his own good, but that’s what he loved about him, and they would get him back on track. So far they had mastered every obstacle together.

“Any time, Iwa-chan. Any time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter but also a bit more cheerful than the last one xx
> 
> I was supposed to go on a bender this weekend but I got super sick and couldn't go so here I am, taking it out on poor Iwa-chan. Yes yes, drinking is bad, kids.
> 
> Please consider leaving some kudos and/or comments for poor sick me (yes, I'm pulling the pity card) xx


	24. "Patience... is not something I'm known for."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which the boys get married,

“It’s eleven already, how the hell can’t we be ready yet?”

“Chill out, Oikawa, you still have a full hour.”

Oikawa and Makki were standing in a big room, illuminated by the morning sun that shone through windows that made up half the wall, and Oikawa was currently in a frenzy, running back and forth while accomplishing absolutely nothing.

He had been ready for half an hour already, but he always found a little something that he thought was still awry and therefore initiated one nervous breakdown after the other.  
The biggest concern was his hair, which looked perfectly good after he had styled it for _an hour_ \- all by himself of course, because god forbid he would let anybody else touch it - but still he insisted every few minutes that this one strand had moved by two millimeters and ruined the whole thing.

“I swear, if you touch your hair one more time, I’m tying you to a chair until it’s time,” Makki groaned in exasperation.

“That’s rude, Makki,” Oikawa whined. “You can’t be rude to me today.”

“Deal with it. You shouldn’t have made me best man if you weren’t ready for that. Now sit the fuck down while I get you something to drink.”

Oikawa huffed, but dropped down into a chair, carefully as not to wrinkle the white suit he was wearing, and resumed to pouting as Makki poured them two glasses of sparkling wine, mixing Oikawa’s with some orange juice since he was already a nervous wreck and Makki wasn’t sure how well he could handle his alcohol right now.

“Here,” he pushed the glass into Oikawa’s hand. “Drink up and quit worrying. It’s all going to be fine.”

“How do you know that?” Oikawa asked, but complied and took a sip of his drink. “There’s a million things that could happen. I could forget my vows. Oh god, what if my brain locks down and I don’t know what to say anymore?”

“You’ve recited them to me like fifty times, and that was only today. And even if you do forget them, which you won’t, you can just wing it. It’s not like you’re a person that usually doesn’t know what to say.”

“I could stumble on my way down the aisle.”

“Well, I’m sure Iwaizumi-san would never let you live that down. But it would be just another funny story to tell later, so don’t worry about it.”

Oikawa sighed and took another sip. “Makki-san, I’m really fucking nervous, and I don’t even know why. I thought I was ready for this, I mean, I _am_ ready for this, so why does it feel like I’m going to faint every minute now? It’s not like anything will really change between Iwa-chan and me, we’ve lived together ever since college and we’ve been together for years now, so… why does it feel like this?”

“It’s completely normal,” Makki replied and patted Oikawa’s shoulders in an attempt to comfort him. “People always go batshit crazy before their wedding. But then you have the ceremony, and a kick-ass party after, and then all you’ll remember is one fucking happy day in the end. As you said, nothing will change, but it’s still a big step to say your vows in front of everyone you know. You’ll be fine, though.”

“Sure hope so,” Oikawa murmured, glancing at the clock. “Damn, why does it still have to be so long?”

Makki huffed out a laugh. “One minute ago it wasn’t enough time for you. Just be a little patient, it will all work out just fine.”

“Patience… is not something I’m known for.”

“Oh, really? My, I’ve never noticed before.” Makki downed the rest of his glass and stood up. “Okay, wait here for a minute, I’ll be right back.”

“What are you doing?”

“Ending this nervous breakdown you’re having. Just give me a sec.”

And just like that he was out the door, leaving a confused Oikawa behind. He sighed and stood up, finishing off his drink as well and put aside the glass before stepping in front of the mirror again.

His white suit with the black details that he was wearing fit perfectly - it had taken weeks to have it tailored exactly how he wanted, and he had almost driven Makki to insanity with all their trips to the tailor, but it had been worth it in the end.  
There was a turquoise rose in his breast pocket, decorated with some pearls that compliment the glitter on his cheekbones, and his hair was styled perfectly.

He was ready, he knew that, but the knowledge still wasn’t enough to get his nerves under control.

He didn’t know what Iwaizumi’s suit would look like, but of course Mattsun and Makki had worked together as respective best men, so it probably would go along with his own look.  
The thought of that only made him more itchy, though. He really couldn’t wait to see Iwaizumi.

A few minutes later, Makki threw open the door and strode into the room.  
“Turn around!” he ordered and Oikawa gave him an incredulous look.

“What?”

“Turn around, face away from the door, and close your eyes.”

“Makki, what in the hell…”

“Just do it.”

Huffing, Oikawa did what he was told, even though he couldn’t possibly think of any reasonable explanation for this. “If this is some of your games…”

But before he could finish the sentence, he felt someone else stepping up behind him so they were standing back to back, and then a hand was searching for his own.  
“Tooru?”

Oikawa sucked in a breath and reached out, taking the hand that was still searching along his side. “Hajime, what are you doing here?”

A deep chuckle was the answer, and Oikawa could feel it rumble against his back. “Makki came over and told us your nerves were acting up, and it’s bad luck to see each other before the ceremony, but we figured if we didn’t _see_, it should be fine.”

“We’ll be back in ten minutes,” Makki called from the door. “And don’t you dare turn around!”

Then the sound of the door closing reached his ears, and it was Oikawa’s time to laugh. “You’re unbelievable.” Then he paused for a second. “Are you nervous, too?”

Because if he was the only one being such an emotional wreck, he definitely had to wonder what the hell was wrong with him. But to his relief, Iwaizumi replied, “Yeah. I couldn’t even really sleep last night.”

Oikawa squeezed his hand. “Yeah, it was weird sleeping without you. And then we went straight here after breakfast and it drove me crazy not being able to see you.”

“Same here. But we got nothing to worry about now, do we?”

A smile spread over Oikawa’s face. “No, I guess not.” Even though he wasn’t allowed to look at him, Iwaizumi’s presence alone was enough to comfort him and ease his nerves. The other had always been his pillar, and that hadn’t changed over the years, it hadn’t changed in middle school, not in high school, not in college, and especially not after their engagement.

“I’m really excited, apart from being nervous,” Oikawa added.

Iwaizumi’s voice was soft as he answered, “I can’t wait to see you walk down the aisle. It’s really hard not to turn around right now.”

“I know. But it’ll be worth it, I think.”

“You’re always worth the wait, Tooru.”

Damn, this man was going to be the death of him. “Don’t get sappy now, Iwa-chan. If I cry off my makeup before the ceremony, I’m gonna be mad.”

“Ain’t my fault that you’re so weepy, Shittykawa.”

Oikawa chuckled. “Yeah, that’s more like it.”

They just stood like that, talking about stupid little things to ease their nerves some more, squeezing their hands occasionally, and after the ten minutes were up Makki and Mattsun entered again to bring Iwaizumi back to his own room.  
With one last squeeze of his hand, Iwaizumi let go. “I’ll be waiting for you, Tooru. See you in a bit.”

It was only half an hour left, but Oikawa felt much more at ease than before.

He held his head high when his mother came to pick him up, and Makki rushed to take his own place in the chapel, and he didn’t even waste one thought on the fact that his father wasn’t here today to walk him down the aisle.  
He was glad it was his mother who did.

They entered the chapel, and all the guests stood up as the music began to play.  
Heads turned, whispers started, but Oikawa didn’t have time to look through the crowd and spot the familiar, friendly faces, he was way too focused staring down the aisle and looking at his beautiful, perfect fiance that was waiting there for him.

It was Iwaizumi who cried when Oikawa walked down the aisle, and when he joined him by the altar, there was a huge smile on Oikawa’s face.

“Talk about being weepy,” he whispered, and there were a few laughs from the crowd.

Iwaizumi just chuckled and wiped at his eyes, a grin spreading on his face. “Shut up, Shittykawa.”

They knelt as boyfriends, and rose as husbands.

The crowd cheered loudly when they kissed, Makki and Mattsun wolf-whistling from the sides, and Tooru couldn’t have been happier.

His nerves were forgotten, his suit didn’t matter anymore, he couldn’t even care less about his hair as Iwaizumi buried his hands in it to pull him closer.  
All that mattered was that beautiful man by his side.

Tooru was Hajime’s, and Hajime was Tooru’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some tooth rotting fluff to make up for the gut punching angst in the last few prompts.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it, please leave some kudos and/or comments xx


	25. "I could really eat something."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which the boys are drunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings for drinking

“You know what?” Oikawa purred. He was getting bothersomely good at this kind of tone, Iwaizumi thought, and he blamed it on the alcohol that he found it maybe just a little bit attractive.

“What is it now?” he groaned.

“I could really eat something right now,” Oikawa replied with that type of grin that told Iwaizumi he knew exactly how ridiculous he was being.

“Are you kidding me? It’s like two in the morning, and we’re on our way home, how the hell do you think we’ll be getting food now?”  
It was harder than normally to form words, his tongue seemed too heavy and couldn’t quite keep up with his brain, but he still managed to get the sentences out somewhat coherently.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whined. “I can’t help it, alcohol just makes me hungry.”

“Alright, let’s get home and see what’s left in the fridge.”

“I want fries.”

Iwaizumi stopped dead in his tracks, because scolding and walking at the same time was just too much right now. “You don’t even like fries. Also, you should have thought about that when we were still at the fair, and not half an hour away from it.”

In response, Oikawa started pouting. “Why are we walking, anyways? It’s so far from home.”

“You sure as hell ain’t driving when you’re shitfaced.”

“Am not.”

“Oh yeah? Stand on one leg then, will you?”

Of course the idiot did exactly that and Iwaizumi could jump forward and catch him just in time before he hit the floor. “What the fuck, Shittykawa?” His own head was spinning, but he was definitely not as drunk as his best friend, which made this situation all the more annoying.

“You told me to,” Oikawa whined, but Iwaizumi only growled in response and draped Oikawa’s arm over his own shoulders to keep him upright.

“We’re going home now, you stout hero. And stay on both feet, will you?”

Oikawa grumbled, but thankfully complied and they went on with their journey.

There was a fair in town, and since university kept them all busy these days, it had been one of the few occasions on which Mattsun, Makki, Oikawa and Iwaizumi had been able to all come together and celebrate a bit, and of course that had involved some drinks as well.  
None of them were lightweights, exactly, but they might have had one drink too many that night, and that was why Iwaizumi was half-carrying Oikawa home right now.

“We’re really not getting fries?” Oikawa slurred.

“No. We can get fries tomorrow if you still want them then.”

“Of course I’ll still want them, I love fries.”

“No, you don’t. Come on now.”

They somehow made their way back to their apartment and Iwaizumi had never been so grateful for the elevator as it brought them up to the sixth floor.  
He dragged Oikawa through the hallway and managed to fumble the keys out of his pocket to let them in.

Once inside, Oikawa immediately dropped down on the couch. “Iwa-chan, the room is spinning.”

“Don’t close your eyes, dumbass.” Iwaizumi walked over to the kitchen and returned a few seconds later with a bottle of water. “Here, drink this.”

Oikawa scrunched up his nose. “I don’t wanna drink water.”

But Iwaizumi just ignored him and unscrewed the bottle, holding in out. “You’ll thank me tomorrow. Drink up.”

Reluctantly, Oikawa took the water from his hand and started drinking. After finishing half the bottle, he gave it back to Iwaizumi, who gulped down the rest and then got up to get another one, but Oikawa caught him by the wrist. “Iwa-chan, don’t go.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“No,” Oikawa whined. “Don’t go, please.”

Sighing, Iwaizumi dropped back down onto the couch and placed the empty water bottle on the small table in front of them. “What is it?”

His brain could barely process what was happening before strong arms wrapped around him, and suddenly he had a lap-full of Oikawa Tooru on himself.

“What the fuck, Shittykawa?”

“I just wanted to hug you, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa purred - again with that tone! - and rested his head against the side of Iwaizumi’s neck. “You’re really the best, you know? You’re my bestest best friend.”

“Nice, but you’re crushing your bestest best friend right now,” Iwaizumi wheezed, because apparently Oikawa had forgotten that he wasn’t a lanky fifteen year old anymore. Thankfully, he moved to the side a bit so he wasn’t putting his full weight on Iwaizumi’s lungs.

“Am I your bestest best friend too, Iwa-chan?”

Iwaizumi sighed. He already knew where this was headed, because whenever Oikawa got too drunk, he’d fall into this gloomy state eventually where he was emotionally vulnerable, something which would never happen like this while sober, and also something Oikawa would never let anyone else see. Nobody but Iwaizumi.  
“Of course you are, Shittykawa.”

Oikawa sighed happily. “Y’know,” he slurred, “I was afraid at first when we started university, because I thought maybe we’d change and if we saw less of each other things would change between us, and… I don’t really want that, y’know?”

“Yeah, but we’re all good.”

“But are we?” Oikawa asked and leaned back a bit to look Iwaizumi in the eyes, and the statement took the latter by surprise.

“Why shouldn’t we be?”

“Because… because I think things have changed. But maybe they only did for me? I don’t know.” Now he was just babbling without any sense, and Iwaizumi shook his head to clear it a bit.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Oikawa pouted, and his face was so close to Iwaizumi’s that he could feel his breath.

“I like you, Iwa-chan.”

“And?”

“Noo, I mean… I like you, like you. And I s’ppose that changes things, doesn’t it? But I don’t really want to change things, or I do, I don’t really know.”

At this point, Iwaizumi didn’t know if the hot and cold flashes he was feeling were to blame on the alcohol or on Oikawa’s words. “You’re drunk, Shittykawa.”

Oikawa whined. “But Iwa-chan…”

And then suddenly, their lips met. Iwaizumi was so shocked that he couldn’t even react at first, but Oikawa seemed to be quite sure of what he was doing, wrapping his hands around Iwaizumi’s neck and pulling him in closer.  
It was over as fast as it had begun, leaving Iwaizumi absolutely stunned.

Oikawa’s eyes were half-lidded, but he was grinning like a stupid idiot. “Y’know what I mean now?”

Iwaizumi’s body moved like on autopilot. He stood up and pulled Oikawa to his feet to, wrapping his arm around his shoulders like earlier.  
“You’re drunk, Shittykawa. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“But Iwa-chaaan…”

“No buts. I’m bringing you to bed now.”

He didn’t know how he stayed so calm, or how he managed to bring a complaining Oikawa to undress and lie down in his bed, but at least he was out of it as soon as his head hit the pillow.  
Iwaizumi pulled up the covers and turned off the lights before stepping into the living room and running his hands over his face.

What the fuck had just happened?

The next morning, Iwaizumi and Oikawa met in the kitchen for their morning coffee.

Iwaizumi’s head was still buzzing a bit, but the two liters of water he had downed before going to bed really had done their job and he was feeling okay for the most part.  
Oikawa looked a bit disheveled, but also well enough, and when he entered the kitchen just a few minutes after Iwaizumi, he gave him a little hum as a greeting.

“Morning, Shittykawa. How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Oikawa yawned and pushed his cup towards Iwaizumi. “Coffee.”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, but poured him some anyways. “You were pretty shitfaced.”

Oikawa scoffed in response and took a sip. “I wasn’t that drunk.”

“Oh yeah? So you remember everything that happened yesterday?”

Oikawa peeked up from over the rim of his cup. “Do you?”

“I wasn’t nearly as drunk as you.”

Sighing, Oikawa put down his cup. “Look, Iwa-chan, I know what happened yesterday. I’m sorry, okay? I mean, no I’m not really sorry, but I didn’t want it to happen like this, and I can totally understand if you don’t ever want to talk about it again, and if you don’t feel…”

“Shittykawa,” Iwaizumi interrupted and Oikawa broke off his frantic rambling, peering at him with uncertainty in his eyes. It wasn’t a look that Iwaizumi was used to seeing on Oikawa’s face, and he didn’t like it. “You wanna go out for coffee tomorrow?”

Oikawa’s eyebrows drew together. “Wait. You mean…?”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes again. “Yes, I’m asking you on a date, idiot. I mean, we can also do something else since we already get coffee all the time, but…”

“No, no, coffee is fine,” Oikawa blurted out. “But… you really mean that? I didn’t want to pressure anything, you know, and I’ve been feeling this for some time now but I didn’t want to make things awkward, but I kinda lost control yesterday and…”

“You’re either blind or oblivious as fuck if you thought I wouldn’t feel the same way,” Iwaizumi simply replied, but he couldn’t help the warmth spreading in his chest. His statement was pretty hypocritical, because he hadn’t known if Oikawa would return his feelings either, he had only hoped but written every sign off as reading too much into it… but this was real. They liked each other, so he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. They had known each other for far too long for that.

Oikawa was slowly coming back out of his shocked state, and a smile was spreading on his face now. A genuine one, Iwaizumi noted, and it made his chest warm all over again.  
“I’m glad, Iwa-chan.”

“So am I,” he replied and poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting down at the table. “So, you still wanna get those fries?”

At that, Oikawa frowned. “What? Why the hell would I wanna get fries? I hate fries.”

Iwaizumi snorted. So much for remembering everything from yesterday, then.

But they were going on a date the next day, an actual, real date.  
So who cared about yesterday, when they had such a bright tomorrow to look forward to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn babes being sick sucks but at least I'm closer to catching up to schedule now!
> 
> Please leave some kudos and/or comments xx


	26. "You keep me warm."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which the heater breaks.

It was in early January when their heater broke.

It had been making weird noises from time to time, but it had always worked splendidly, until one day, Iwaizumi came home and the apartment he and Oikawa shared was freezing.  
Grumbling, he called their landlord who promised to take care of it, but it was common knowledge that the man liked to take his time with things that cost him money, and a week later the heater still hadn’t been fixed.

As if a freezing apartment wasn’t bad enough, Iwaizumi also had to deal with Oikawa whining 24/7 because the idiot just absolutely couldn’t handle cold weather and all that mixed with the insane workload his sports medicine study was dumping on him lately, Iwaizumi felt close to blowing a fuse.

They did everything they could to bring their apartment to a just remotely bearable temperature: Lighting candles, making dinner in the oven every evening and leaving it opened after, wearing their thickest sweaters and heating up hot water bottles again and again, but the cold persisted.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Iwaizumi grumbled and put the phone away with which he had just tried to reach the landlord again.

“Didn’t pick up?” Oikawa asked.

They were in the kitchen, Iwaizumi at the table with five books strewn out in front of him, and Oikawa over by the counter, preparing a pot of tea.  
They drank a lot of tea to begin with, but ever since the heater incident, Iwaizumi couldn’t even count how many pots they made a day. It was probably the most hydrated he had ever been in his life, and that meant something considering he had always been mindful of his hydration levels.

“No, he didn’t pick up. Again,” Iwaizumi growled and tossed his phone next to his books, trying to concentrate again, but it was nearly impossible at this point.  
The last few nights had been restless, and the lack of sleep combined with the cold and exhaustion really wasn’t a pleasant mixture.

“Maybe we should just call someone and then send the landlord the check? I mean, we can’t live like this for much longer!” Oikawa placed a mug of tea in front of him.

Iwaizumi huffed and took it, welcoming the warmth under his fingers. “What if he refuses to pay? We’re kind of low on our budget this month.”  
Since finals were drawing near for both of them, they had had to cut back on their jobs, and the lessened income had definitely started to show in their books.

Sighing, Oikawa sat down across from Iwaizumi and moved one of the books aside to place his own mug on the table. “It’s unbelievable. You better not let me on the phone with the guy, I think I would just yell at him the entire time.”

“I’m not really planning on doing anything else,” Iwaizumi mumbled and took a sip of his tea. It wasn’t true, of course, because even though he really, really wanted to shout at their landlord, he still had enough common sense to know a diplomatic tone was probably the best idea.

Oikawa just sighed again. “If I die, please send him the bill for my funeral. Oh, and make it a big one. I wanna go out with a bang.”

“Don’t be melodramatic, Shittykawa.”

“But it’s freezing,” Oikawa whined. “I don’t even get how you can study in these temperatures!”

Since Oikawa had lots more free periods in this semester, he usually spent those studying in the library or cafeteria at university - all heated rooms, of course.  
Iwaizumi didn’t have as much time, though, so he had to resort to their apartment in the evenings, which really was less than suboptimal these days.

“Well, I can’t just stop studying because it’s cold,” Iwaizumi replied gruffly. “Speaking off, I really need to finish this, so let me work, okay?”

Oikawa pouted, but he wasn’t as much of an ass to keep Iwaizumi from getting his work done, so he retreated to the living room with his tea cup.

A few hours later, Iwaizumi’s eyes were falling shut on their own without anything he could do about it, and nothing he tried to mesmerize stuck in his brain, so he decided to call it a day.  
Yawning, he crossed the living room where Oikawa was watching TV buried under three blankets and went into his room to get ready for bed.

“Oi,” he said when he stepped out again to go to the bathroom. “When are you getting up tomorrow?”

“Sixish?” Oikawa replied, rubbing his eyes.

Iwaizumi glared at him. “Why the fuck are you still up then?”

With a glance at the clock, Oikawa grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, yawning and stretching out his arms. “Sorry, mom… hey!”

The toothpaste Iwaizumi threw at his head just barely missed him.

The night was restless once again.

Iwaizumi managed to slip off into an almost-asleep state from time to time, but he could never really go to sleep, and it was so cold, and he was just so tired… god, it was frustrating.

After an hour of tossing and turning, he could hear the door to his room opening, and seconds later someone slipped under the covers next to him.

“Iwa-chan, are you awake?”

“Well, I sure as hell am now,” he grumbled, but his words didn’t hold any bite. He was way too exhausted for that.

It was too dark to see anything at all, but he could feel Oikawa’s hands fumbling around until they found his torso, and then a warm body pressed up to his and he could hear Oikawa breathing near to his ear.

“Sorry for barging in,” Oikawa murmured. “It’s just so damn cold, and you keep me warm. Can I stay, Iwa-chan?”

Iwaizumi didn’t even give some snarky remark, instead he put his own arms around Oikawa and pulled him in even closer. It had been some time since they had shared a bed like this, and he didn’t even know why, but this was nice. He had missed it, he realized.

Oikawa hummed in contentment and nuzzled his head into the crook of Iwaizumi’s neck. How he always managed that despite being a few inches taller would forever remain a mystery to Iwaizumi, but he wouldn’t dream of complaining about it.  
Sighing, he closed his eyes and took in the warmth of the other boy, relishing in the feeling of being so close again and how content he felt like this, how safe.

“Good night, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa murmured, and seconds later his breathing turned even and soft little snores started up. Iwaizumi fell asleep not long after.

That night, he slept the best he had done in weeks.

They kept this going, telling themselves it was the cold nights that made them climb into the same bed every night without even blinking, that they were just sharing body heat and nothing else.

But when the heater was repaired a few days later, nothing changed.

Nothing changed at all for some weeks, until one day, Iwaizumi’s lips found Oikawa’s, and Oikawa kissed him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's frigging cold over here, and lucky me that the prompt absolutely fit the mood, so I made the boys freeze a little. But they kissed, so I think I'm forgiven.
> 
> I wrote this after one long as hell day at university and I'm all ready now to fall into bed, so take care babes and see you next time!
> 
> Please leave kudos and/or comments xx


	27. "Can you wait for me?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa needs a hand.

Practice had been hard on them today.  
Everyone was exhausted and keen to get home soon to eat dinner, and when they finally called it quits it had already gotten dark outside.

When Iwaizumi returned from stowing the last one of the ball carts away, almost everyone had already retreated to the changing rooms, save for Oikawa who was still busy tying his shoe. 

Iwaizumi made for the doors. He couldn’t wait to get the sweat-soaked jersey off and if Oikawa was going to take forever again…

“Iwa-chan?” Speak of the devil.

“What?” Iwaizumi asked, throwing a glance back over his shoulder. Oikawa was still on the ground, but not tying his shoe anymore, just crouching there and supporting himself on his arms. Something about it seemed off.

“Can you wait for me?”

Iwaizumi turned around and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

The reply was a laugh, but it sounded hollow in his ears and without thinking he moved forward and dropped down to his knees next to Oikawa.   
“I’m fine…” Oikawa started, but trailed off when Iwaizumi pushed him backwards not-too gently to reveal what Oikawa had really been crouching over - not his shoe, but his knee. The knee sporting a white brace, and when Iwaizumi reached out and lifted the material, he could see the skin was swollen and colored an angry red underneath.  
Oikawa hissed and flinched away, but Iwaizumi had seen enough anyways. 

“What the fuck, Shittykawa!” His voice came out louder than intended, but he could barely contain his anger. “You said you would stop if you could feel it getting worse again!”

“It wasn’t so bad,” Oikawa tried, but Iwaizumi was having none of it.

“Oh, so you wanna tell me this swelling happened in the last two minutes? Who are you trying to kid? You promised to take care of yourself, and I thought the last incident made you realize how stupidly dangerous this game is that you’re playing. You can’t gamble on your own health, damn it!”

“Iwa-chan, it really only hurt a little and then it got worse in the last ten minutes, but I figured ten minutes weren’t so bad.”

“If it hurts, you stop!” Iwaizumi growled. “That’s what the doctor told you, not to test out how far you can push it this time!”

“I wasn’t-”

“Save it.” He leaned back a little. “Can you stand?”

Oikawa made a face that might have passed as a smile for some people, but Iwaizumi recognized it for the pained grimace that it was right away.

“That’s why I asked you to stay,” Oikawa said quietly. “I haven’t been able to get up for the last ten minutes.”

Iwaizumi groaned. “Why didn’t you say something?”

A shrug was the response. “I didn’t want to cause a scene.”

Sighing, Iwaizumi wrapped one arm around Oikawa’s waist and grabbed his upper arm with the other, then steadied himself. “I need you to help me out here.”  
A few years back, he had been able to lift Oikawa with ease, but with both the height and weight the other had gained by now, it was hardly possible anymore, much to Iwaizumi’s dismay.

Pushing off the ground, he pulled Oikawa with him, and the latter put some weight on his uninjured leg for support so they somehow managed to stand, Oikawa clinging to Iwaizumi to keep himself upright.

Iwaizumi sighed and steadied him with his arms. “I’ll call my mother to pick us up.”

“No,” Oikawa whined. “She’ll just scold me again. One of you yelling at me is bad enough!”

“Well tough fucking luck, Shittykawa, it’s not like you don’t deserve it for being such an idiot,” Iwaizumi retorted.

“Can’t you carry me home like when we were younger?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Iwaizumi gave him an incredulous look. “Because we’re not fourteen anymore, stupid.”

That only earned him a pout in response. “There’s nothing childish about piggy-back rides, people do it all the time!”

“I’m not saying it’s childish, I’m saying you’ve grown a lot and you’re basically a giant by now and there’s no way I can still carry you for half an hour.”

“Iwa-chan!”

“No!”

Oikawa huffed. “If you call your mom, at least carry me to the car?”

“Only if you promise to make a check up appointment for your knee.”

“That’s extortion.”

“Do I look like I care?”

Oikawa looked down and cautiously tried to put some weight on his leg, which worked, technically, but the face he made during the process spoke for itself. “Ugh, okay, fine.”

“Alright. Now, I need to go to the locker room to get my phone, do you wanna come with me to get changed?”

Frowning, Oikawa considered it for a second. “I should, shouldn’t I?”

“Well, you _are_ drenched in sweat and it’s pretty cold outside,” Iwaizumi pointed out. “But by your self-care standards, that’s probably fine as well, isn’t it?”

“Mean, Iwa-chan!” he whined, but nodded. “Alright, but only if the others are gone already, I don’t want them to see this.”

“I’m pretty sure they all left considering how much time we wasted on you behaving like a self-destructive brat.”

Oikawa opened his mouth to argue, but Iwaizumi silenced him with a glare. “Shut up and get on my back, or you can crawl back to the locker room!”

Surprisingly enough, he complied - even though only with a sulking pout - and Iwaizumi crouched down in front of him so he could climb on his back.  
When Iwaizumi stood back up, he groaned. “Jeez, and there I went thinking I had already done my workout for the day.”

“Don’t be mean, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa chirped right next to his ear. “I’m not _that_ much taller than you.”

Iwaizumi was pretty sure it was at least a good five centimeters, but he resorted to growling, “Shut it, Shittykawa, before I drop you on your ass.”

The threat was effective and Oikawa didn’t say another word until they were back at the locker rooms. The rest of the team had already left indeed, and Iwaizumi carefully put Oikawa down on one of the benches before searching for his phone in his locker.

“You have the keys for locking up, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Oikawa replied, and something in his tone made Iwaizumi turn around and face him. It sounded too quiet somehow, and quietness was not something Oikawa Tooru was known for.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” Oikawa said, but the crack in his voice betrayed him and it hit Iwaizumi like a shock-wave as he realized his best friend was close to _crying_.

“Shit, Oikawa.” He dropped down next to him on the bench and put a hand on his shoulder. “Does it hurt that bad?”

“No, I…” Not a single tear escaped his eyes, but still his voice sounded all choked up and every time it broke it hit Iwaizumi like a sucker punch to the gut. God, he hated seeing Oikawa like this, and still the idiot just wouldn’t stop putting himself through this.  
“I just want it to go away, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa admitted quietly. “I want to go back to playing like I did before, and not worry the whole time if something will happen. Every time I jump, I can’t help but wonder if my knee will hold or give when I land, and it’s driving me insane. But if I try ignoring it, then stuff like this happens, and… ugh.” He cut himself off, shaking his head.

Iwaizumi sighed. “I get that, okay? Your knee is still healing, so of course you have to be more careful right now, but you heard what the doctor said. It’s going to be okay, and then you won’t have to worry about this stuff as much.” He squeezed Oikawa’s shoulder. “But that will only happen if you let yourself heal. You can’t pull stunts like this one again, understood?”

“Yes,” Oikawa replied. “I’m sorry for not listening.”

“Well, you better be,” Iwaizumi said and punched him in the arm lightly, but not hard enough to actually hurt him. “Listen, I know this is hard, especially for an impatient little shit like you, but we’ll get you through this. As for now, how does an icepack and some milkbread sound?”

Oikawa’s eyes lit up instantly, and Iwaizumi couldn’t help but smile a little. It was so easy to push this idiot’s right buttons sometimes.  
“You’ll get me milkbread, Iwa-chan?”

“I have some at home.” He’d never admit it was an emergency stash in case Oikawa ever needed cheering up, like now for example, but reading the grin on his best friend’s face, the other probably already knew what was up.  
“Wipe that grin off your face before I reconsider it. I’m calling my mother now.”

“Wait, Iwa-chan.” A hand on his wrist stopped him from going back to his locker, and he looked down at Oikawa questioningly.

“What?”

“I just… wanted to say thank you. For looking out for me.”

Iwaizumi scoffed. “Well, I can’t exactly trust you to do it yourself, now can I?”

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and then both broke out into chuckles. 

Iwaizumi squeezed Oikawa’s hand and then let go to walk back to his locker to search for his phone, but his mind was much more at ease than before.

Oikawa might be a huge idiot, but he wasn’t stupid.  
They would be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm exhausted babes so no big words from me, I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> Please leave some love xx


	28. "Enough! I heard enough!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa is a fuckboi™ and Iwa struggles with feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for Swearing

When Oikawa came into the kitchen in the morning, hair disheveled and glasses askew, Iwaizumi was already sitting on the table with a cup of coffee before him.  
“Morning,” Oikawa yawned and walked over to the coffee machine, but Iwaizumi just glared at him and turned back to his newspaper. He really wasn’t in the mood to talk.

“Jeez, morning grouch much?” Oikawa murmured and pressed a button that set the coffee machine off. “I better ask… um…”

“Hitomu-san?”

“Oh, so _that_ was his name.”

Iwaizumi scoffed. “He already left. Which I’m surprised he didn’t do much earlier, to be honest, considering you were moaning the wrong name for half the night. If you have to sleep with every second person on campus, maybe you should at least have the decency to tell them apart.”

Sighing, Oikawa set down his own cup on the table and sat down across from Iwaizumi. “Do you have something you want to say to me, Iwa-chan?”

The newspaper landed with a loud ‘thwump’ when Iwaizumi threw it down on the table. Oh, there was a thousand things he would like to say. “We have very thin walls, and you know that! I’ve had it with you and your… whatever they are stealing my sleep!”

The nonchalant sigh Oikawa gave almost drove Iwaizumi up the wall. “You used to be such a deep sleeper…”

“And you used to have some sense of self-worth, but things change I suppose!”

At that, Oikawa leaned back and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “What does that mean?”

Iwaizumi just glared at him. “That was your third one night stand this week, and it’s Thursday! It’s been going on like that for weeks, how do you even… no, I don’t even wanna know. Whatever, just keep it down on school nights, for god’s sake!”

But Oikawa was glaring too, not backing down. “No, Iwa-chan, say what you really want to say.”

He did not like the direction in which this conversation was headed, but he was also very pissed off, so being rational was dwindling downward on his to-do list rather quickly.  
“What do you want to hear? I’m sick of this, I’m sick of being kept up at night just because you decided to whore yourself out again-”

He was cut off by Oikawa jumping to his feet, hands balled into fists. "Do _not_ call me a whore!”

“Why not? The only difference is that you’re not charging! Maybe you should, we’d have our monthly rent covered in no time at this rate!” He knew that was a low-blow, but at this point he was just too angry to care.

Oikawa stared at him with wide eyes as if he could not believe what he was hearing. “Just because I decided to have some fun instead of holing myself up in my room the entire day-”

“Oh, studying and being an actual responsible adult is something you frown upon now? Maybe you should just drop out and dedicate your whole life to your new business then!”

“What the hell is your problem?” Oikawa yelled. “I never threw such a tantrum when you brought someone over, and those were the same thin walls!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t fuck literally every person that happened to cross my path! What will you do when you run out of fellow students, huh? Will you start going in rounds, or are the professors next?”

“Enough!” Oikawa shouted, and Iwaizumi knew there and then that he had gone too far. “I heard enough! If you want to sit here and be a judgmental ass, then be my guest, but I don’t need to listen to any of this!”  
There were tears in his eyes when he whirled around to storm out of the kitchen and slammed the door shut behind him, and Iwaizumi knew he had only himself to blame for that, but that only made it sting more.

Groaning, he put his head in his hands and listened to Oikawa stomping around the apartment, until the front door slammed a few minutes later, leaving him in total silence.  
Well, fuck.  
He hadn’t meant to go this far, but all these people Oikawa had kept bringing home lately, all the nights Iwaizumi had lain awake, feeling his heart twist painfully with every ecstatic sound from the room next to his own… it had pissed him off to no end, and it had also hurt like hell.  
Maybe that vicious little voice in the back of his head had just wanted to pay Oikawa back for the pain he had caused.

Iwaizumi just stayed like that, brooding over what the hell he was supposed to do now, and about half an hour later his phone rang.  
His heart started quickening its pace, but when he looked at the display, he could see Kuroo’s picture grinning at him. He sighed, but picked up nevertheless.  
“What?”

“Sooo,” Kuroo started, “care to explain why a completely livid Oikawa just stormed my place, announced he was staying, and then sauntered off to university?”

Iwaizumi groaned. “We had a fight.”

“Well, no shit Sherlock. Care to elaborate?”

“Not really?”

Kuroo tutted. “Uh-uh. I’ll let him stay if he wants to, but I also like having my own apartment, so we are going to fix whatever mess you two created to reinstall my privacy, and for that I need both sides. Meet me at the coffee shop, I’ll bribe you with a cappuccino.”

“Kuroo…”

“Fifteen minutes. No need to make yourself look pretty for me.” With that, he hung up.

Iwaizumi groaned again and considered just laying his head on the table and never getting up from that position again, but knowing Kuroo, he would probably come up here to kick his ass, so against his will, Iwaizumi started getting ready and then left for the coffee shop.

Kuroo was already there when he arrived and waved him over to sit down in one of the booths. “Shit, Iwa-san, I know I said you didn’t have to look pretty… but you do look like shit.”

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi growled and dropped down across from Kuroo. “I’m not exactly having the time of my life here.”

“Ah yes,” Kuroo said and pushed one of the coffees that were in front of him towards Iwaizumi. “Start drinking and telling. Oikawa only gave me a very brief and very heated summary before he stormed off again.”

Sighing, Iwaizumi took a sip of coffee. Much better than the one they had at home, he really needed to know how they did that here. “He had company again last night, and it’s been happening on a very regular basis.”

“Which is an issue, why exactly?”

“One, I can hear them every night, and two, he always brings home a different guy! I think he has slept with half his class at this point!”

Kuroo leaned back a bit, and one of his famous lop-sided grins appeared on his face. “Oh, Iwa-san, we both know that’s not the point.”

Iwaizumi just stared at him. “It’s exactly the point, that’s why I’m telling you.”

But Kuroo just shook his head. “I slept with twice as many guys as Oikawa-san, and you know that. Yet you never called me a whore, at least not to my face.”

“I didn’t…” Iwaizumi stuttered. “I didn’t call him a whore!” Not directly, at least.

“One, you’re avoiding the subject, and two, I only know what he told me. But I also know you don’t think less of guys who sleep around, so why is it an issue with him?”

Iwaizumi settled for glaring at his coffee. “Thin walls.”

But of course Kuroo wasn’t so easily fooled. “Eh, try that again.”

“Okay, fine,” Iwaizumi growled. “I don’t need to spell it out for you, do I? You know exactly why I have a problem with it.”

Kuroo nodded contentedly, and Iwaizumi positively felt compelled to strangle him at this point. Why couldn’t he just have a peaceful Thursday morning?  
“So, what gave you the impression it might be a better idea to attack him instead of just - wild concept, I know, but - talking to him?”

“He pissed me off. He can’t even remember the damn names of the people he’s fucking anymore, so why should I even try to talk to him about… _that_? He very obviously is looking for something that requires less committing right now.”

“And so you… call him out for sleeping around?”

Iwaizumi groaned and put his coffee down. “I get it, okay? I blew a fuse, I shouldn’t have said what I said. I just don’t know how to deal with this anymore, I can’t keep hearing him every night when- well, you know.”

“Articulating it might be a good starting point.”

“Starting point for what, exactly? This isn’t going anywhere.”

Kuroo held his hands up in a surrendering manner. “Okay, that’s your decision. But even if you don’t want to tackle that, you two should at least figure out how to make up as best friends. I don’t know what exactly you said, but he seemed pretty hurt.”

Those words made Iwaizumi’s gut twist in a painful manner. “I’m… not sure how to fix it.”

“Do you feel you have said anything you should apologize for?”

Iwaizumi thought about it for a few moments, replaying the conversation in his head.

_You used to have some kind of self-worth._   
_Just because you decided to whore yourself out… maybe you should start charging._   
_Are the professors next?_

He cringed inwardly at himself. Jealousy really was a wicked beast. “Yes. I do.”

Kuroo shrugged. “There’s your cue. Apologize. It might even be easier if you explained it to him…” After seeing Iwaizumi’s glare, he shrugged. “Just saying. But apologizing is a good start. I would give him some time, though, I think if you two face each other now, you’ll just go for each other’s throats and that’s more counter productive than anything else.”

Sighing, Iwaizumi stared down at his cup again. “Do you really think he’ll forgive me?”

“Well,” Kuroo replied, “that will be up to him. But knowing the two of you, I think there’s hardly anything you could do that Oikawa wouldn’t forgive. But Iwa-san, I really think it would be good if you actually told him what was going on.”

Iwaizumi just hummed in response, lost in thought. It was true, Oikawa and he had never been in a fight that had seriously threatened their friendship, but then again, all of this was just an exceptional situation.  
How did things ever become so complicated?

One and a half weeks later, and nothing much had changed.   
So either Kuroo had become really done with their shit, or he just wanted his apartment back to himself, but either way, he had been fed up enough with them to lure them into this damn supply closet in the university building - Iwaizumi first, Oikawa after that - and locked the door behind them. Iwaizumi didn’t even want to think about how the hell he had gotten the keys for this.  
But anyways, they were stuck now, and Kuroo apparently had no intention of letting them out any time soon.

“He’s such a child,” Oikawa murmured and sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall.

Iwaizumi sighed and did the same across from him.

For a few minutes, they sat in uncomfortable silence, but the closet just wasn’t big enough for that and after some time Iwaizumi could almost feel the unspoken words lingering in here suffocating him.  
“Look, Oikawa… I’m sorry about what I said.”

Oikawa only huffed. “Which part? The one where I have no self-worth or the one where you called me a literal slut?”

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Iwaizumi said quietly. “I was angry. That doesn’t excuse that, I know, I just want you to know I’m sorry.”

It bothered him that Oikawa wasn’t even looking at him, but just staring at the wall next to him with an unreadable expression in his eyes and his lips pressed into a thin line.

“It really hurt,” he finally said. “You’re supposed to be the person that always has my back.”

“I know.”

“I thought you would be the one person not judging me for stuff like this.”

“I’m not judging you.”

“Oh yeah?” He huffed an empty laugh. “It sure as hell sounded like it though.”

“No.” How in the hell was he supposed to explain this? “I don’t like what you’re doing, but I don’t judge you for it.”

“I find that a little hard to believe.” Finally, their gazes met, and boy, did Oikawa look hurt. “What you said to me wasn’t just because you don’t agree with my ways, or whatever. You literally called me out on sleeping around, you _shamed_ me for sleeping around. Explain to me how that isn’t judging.”

“I was jealous, okay?” Iwaizumi blurted out before he could hold himself back, and Oikawa’s eyes blew wide.

Shit.

Well, there was no taking it back now, so he just repeated, “I was jealous. That’s why I said all those things to you, because I was hurt, and I was trying to transfer that hurt to you. And I know that was unfair, and a dick-move.”

“But…” Oikawa stuttered, “no… you don’t mean that.”

Iwaizumi chuckled humorlessly. “I don’t just confess to people for fun.”

“You… you could have just asked if you wanted to sleep with me.”

What? Iwaizumi stared at him incredulously. “Oikawa, I don’t want to just sleep with you. I want to _be_ with you. I like you, as in more than just friendship.”

Oikawa furrowed his brows. “Why?”

“You’re not really gonna make me recite a list like in a cheesy romance movie, are you?”

“No, I mean… why would you want to be with me, even though you know how many people I’ve slept with? You thought it was repulsive, so why would you want to have anything more?”

He really couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “It’s not _repulsive_. I said that stuff because I was mad, I didn’t mean any of it. Oikawa, if you don’t like me like that then you can just say it, it’s totally fine, I’m not expecting you to.”

“No!” Oikawa blurted out, with more force than either of them had anticipated, and his cheeks turned slightly pink. “Sorry. But I mean, no, I do… I do like you like that.”

Now that was something Iwaizumi had not been ready for. “You… do?”

“Yeah. I never thought you’d like me back, though.”

Iwaizumi chuckled and shook his head. “You idiot, I’ve had these feelings for years. I’ve only realized what they were here in college, though, and, well, you were pretty busy with other people, so I didn’t think…”

“I started hooking up with people partly for fun,” Oikawa interrupted, “and partly because I wanted to take my mind off you. I really didn’t think you were interested, and then you continued to keep your distance in that aspect.”

Iwaizumi groaned. “So we successfully threw each other off. That is so typical.”

A chuckle left Oikawa’s mouth, though it sounded a bit unsure. “So you really like me, Iwa-chan?”

“How many times do I have to say it until you believe me?”

“Prove it.”

Within a matter of seconds, they were both up on their feet and Iwaizumi barely registered how the distance between them closed, all he could focus on was that Oikawa was right there, and his hair was so soft under Iwaizumi’s fingers and his breath was so warm and… oh. And their lips met.  
It was only a brief kiss, but Iwaizumi drank in every little sensation of it, tried to mesmerize exactly how it felt, and when they pulled apart again, it was only by a few inches and his hand was still settled against Oikawa’s cheek.

“I’m so sorry for what I said to you,” he said quietly, gazing into those wide brown eyes. “I really didn’t mean it. I never judged you for having sex with anyone, I was just jealous because you were with other people.”

“It’s okay,” Oikawa replied, but he still looked nervous. “Just… um…”

“What is it?”

Oikawa shifted from one foot to the other. “If you’re serious about all this… and you want to be with me…”

“I do.”

“Would it be okay with you if we didn’t have sex in the beginning?”

Iwaizumi stared at him for two seconds, and then he started laughing. “_That’s_ what you’re concerned about? Shittykawa, we could never have sex and I wouldn’t care.”

Relief spread over Oikawa’s face, and that made Iwaizumi wonder once again. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“No, no,” Oikawa replied hastily. “I just… this has nothing to do with you, just… there were one or two guys which I thought maybe I could have something more with. But when we got together and I said I didn’t want to have sex right away, they got mad because they didn’t get how I could sleep around so much and then not have sex with someone I considered a relationship with.”

“That’s bullshit,” Iwaizumi stated. “What happened with these guys?”

“The first one left right away. The other stayed, and… we did have sex pretty fast. And that’s all it stayed. I ended it fairly quick because it was obvious he wasn’t interested in anything more.” The look he gave Iwaizumi almost broke the latter’s heart.   
“I just want you to understand… sex doesn’t have any meaning to me. It’s fun, that’s all, and that’s why I was okay with just enjoying it, because I knew it came without any form of commitment. But it also backfired, because when I tried to seek that commitment out, people just stayed for the sex. And when I look for a relationship, I don’t just want to be the pretty face in someone’s bed.”

Iwaizumi opened his mouth, but Oikawa was quick to put a finger on his lips. “Before you say anything, just know that I trust you with my life, Hajime. It’s all so much easier with you. I just wanted you to understand my reasoning for not wanting to have sex right away, so you don’t think it has anything to do with you.”

He took his finger down, and Iwaizumi promptly pressed his lips to Oikawa’s, to which the latter reacted with a surprise ‘mmph’ sound. When he pulled back again, he smiled.  
“You don’t need to explain yourself for not wanting sex. You call the shots on that, however you want. I want to be with you, and as you said, sex doesn’t mean anything, so I sure as hell don’t need it to have a relationship, and those guys were total dicks for expecting that stuff from you.”

At that, Oikawa returned the smile. “Well, I’m kind of glad about it now. Otherwise the two of us might never have gotten our shit together.”

Chuckling, Iwaizumi shook his head. “If you look at it like _that_…” Then he grew serious once again. “I mean it, though. We’re doing this at your pace.”

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said, and that sparkle Iwaizumi had missed was back in his eyes. “You getting all sappy, who would have known you had it in you?”

“Shut it, Trashykawa,” he growled and rapped Oikawa over the head. 

Relief flooded through him at this feeling of normalcy as they continued their bickering and Oikawa made a way over the top impression of Iwaizumi saying something insanely sappy, which earned him a punch on the arm. God, he had missed this.

After some more bickering - and maybe a little makeout session, they _were_ in a supply closet after all - Oikawa turned towards the door.  
“So… when do you think Kuroo will let us out of here?”

“The longer he waits, the longer I’ll kick his ass for it,” Iwaizumi growled, causing Oikawa to laugh.

“I don’t know,” he replied and wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi’s. “I don’t really mind being in here all that much.”

Iwaizumi sighed. “You’re just trying to bring me to say sappy stuff again.”

“Well?” Oikawa grinned, “Is it working?”

Rolling his eyes, Iwaizumi grabbed Oikawa’s face and none too gently smashed their lips together. Oikawa yelped at first, startled, but then he melted into the kiss, taking a hold of Iwaizumi’s shoulder and pulling him in even closer.  
When they parted again to catch a breath, Iwaizumi smirked. “That sappy enough for you?”

“Hmm,” Oikawa hummed, also grinning, and wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi’s neck. “I’ll have to reevaluate that.”

And that was how Kuroo found them an hour later, kissing, smiling, and all sorrows forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... this escalated a bit. Definitely the longest one shot I've written for fictober so far, but so fun to write!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, leave some love xx


	29. "I'm doing this for you."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa is an omega prince and Iwa is an alpha guard.
> 
> PART 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for Implied/Referenced Sexual Content and Swearing

“Let go of me! Mother, please, stop this!”

“I’m doing this for you, son, it’s just for your own safety. Guards!”

Iwaizumi stood frozen in place as he watched the guards that had grabbed Oikawa by the arms and were currently dragging him out of the big hall were only seconds ago, people had been preparing for a feast.  
Now everyone was silent, watching in curiosity - or in Iwaizumi’s case, in shock - as their crown prince was dragged out of the hall by his mother’s guards.

It took Iwaizumi a few more seconds before he regained his ability to move, and when he did, he sprinted out the door after his prince. The queen was giving a speech, and side-eyed him when he exited, but didn’t make any move to stop him either, and as the door closed behind him, Iwaizumi could hear her say, “I am sorry for my son causing such a scene. I’m sure the news came to all of us as a shock, and we will give him time to process…”

That was all he heard before he was off, running after the guards that were non-too gently dragging the prince down the hall. Oikawa was struggling against them, and since he was neither small nor weak, he put up one hell of a fight even against two grown betas.

“Stop!” Iwaizumi growled when he reached them, letting just enough of an alpha command tone slip into his voice to make all three of them halt in their actions. He locked eyes with one of the guards and stared him down. “Let go of him. I’ll be accompanying the prince.”

“But…” the guard started cautiously, “we have direct orders from the queen.”

“The order was that the prince returns to his chambers, which he will.”

“I’m not sure-”

“Do I have to remind you that I’m his _personal guard_? By laying your filthy hands on him you are in direct violation of the law, queen’s order or not. Let go of him, right now, or I will see to it that you will suffer the consequences for this.”

At that, the guards stepped back, though very reluctantly, letting go of Oikawa who stared at Iwaizumi with wide eyes. Iwaizumi could see the tears shimmering in there, as well as he could smell the salty scent they emitted even though not one had spilled yet.

“Oikawa-sama,” he said, bowing slightly, before taking the prince by the arm. If the guards had left any bruises, he would rip their fingers off one by one.  
They walked off and Iwaizumi could feel the guards’ stares on his back, but he didn’t turn around once. Oikawa didn’t resist, but he wasn’t very willing to go, either. “Iwa-chan-”

“Not here,” Iwaizumi interrupted with a low growl. “Wait.”

They walked through the halls in silence, only their footsteps echoing against the walls.  
There was nobody else around but them, probably since everyone was assembled in the big hall where the prince’s presentation feast had been supposed to take place.

That was before he had presented as an omega five minutes ago, of course.

The queen was probably still hosting the feast, using it as a get-together with her associates and - he really didn’t want to think about this, but she was probably already putting out her feeler’s to look for potential mates for her son.

Iwaizumi didn’t let go of Oikawa’s arm until they were inside his chambers with the door locked behind them, and as soon as the lock clicked shut, Oikawa all but collapsed on him with a loud sob.

“Hey.” He quickly wrapped his arms around the prince and somehow managed to maneuver them over to the bed, sitting down with him.  
If anyone could see them now, he would probably facing exile for invading the prince’s personal space like this, but they had done this before and there had been a reason they locked the door.

“Why, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa sobbed and hid his face against Iwaizumi’s chest. “Why me?”

“It’s genetics, you can’t fight that,” Iwaizumi replied quietly, but he knew there was nothing he could say to soothe the pain the prince was feeling right now.

Oikawa let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a wail. “I could have been a beta for all I cared, but an omega? How the hell could that happen? There hasn’t been a royal omega in decades, I thought they purified the bloodlines for a reason!”

Iwaizumi had been shocked himself. Everything about Oikawa had strongly suggested alpha genetics, so when he had presented as an omega, nobody could have possibly seen it coming.

“I can’t live like this, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sobbed, startling Iwaizumi out of his daze.

“Don’t say that,” he growled. “It’s unexpected, yes, but it’s not the end of the world either.”

“That’s easy for you to say! _You’re_ an alpha, your position in this society is long secured!”__

_ _“Being an omega is not disgraceful.”_ _

_ _“One, tell that to my mother, and two, I couldn’t care less about it! But other people will care, and you’re not naive enough to think they’ll still let me inherit a throne, or heavens forbid, hold any kind of power in this land? I’ll be married off to open my legs for some alpha stranger, to keep him happy and pleased and give him all the children he wants. Now tell me, Iwa-chan, which part of that life sounds worth living to you?”_ _

_ _“Nothing is set in stone yet. You should talk to your mother first,” Iwaizumi replied, and was surprised at how determined he sounded himself. Oikawa was right, this was usually what happened with royal omegas, but heavens be damned if he would let that happen. He’d sooner run off with Oikawa than let him get hurt._ _

_ _“My mother is probably promising me to some noble alpha as we speak,” Oikawa sniffed, and hung his head. “I bet there’s a thousand suitors at the ready, too. Who wouldn’t love to make the crown prince their bitch?”_ _

_ _“Oikawa, stop!” Iwaizumi growled. It’s not that Oikawa was wrong, Iwaizumi was sure there were lots of people eager to claim the proud prince for themselves, to see him fall from power and mark him theirs, but the thought alone made Iwaizumi nauseous. “We’ll find a way, okay?”_ _

_ _Oikawa looked up at him from where he had slumped over, and Iwaizumi’s gut twisted at the sight.  
This had been supposed to be a happy day, but now Oikawa was crouching here, crown askew, the makeup the hand maidens had carefully painted on before the ceremony all smudged by the tears, and Oikawa’s eyes which were usually bright and challenging had dulled down so much they only looked tired now.  
“There is no way, Iwa-chan. The whole kingdom knows about their omega prince now, and even if we could convince my mother to let me stay, the people would go on the barricades. No omega has ever held any power here, and no omega ever will.”_ _

_ _“It’s just a stupid tradition! If the ceremony hadn’t been public, nobody would have ever guessed that you were an omega.”_ _

_ _Oikawa scoffed. “I’m pretty sure people can tell by scent once I’ve had my first heat.” His face scrunched up. “Heavens, I don’t even want to think about that.”_ _

_ _“I’m trying to say that this changes nothing. You’re still the same person you were before presenting as an omega, you’re still as strong, and still as smart, and still as fit to reign.”_ _

_ _“You really think you can sell this to my mother?”_ _

_ _“Not yet, no. But I think you should start by finding a way to convince her to let you stay. We can work from there.” He squeezed Oikawa’s shoulder. “Just don’t give up yet, okay?”_ _

_ _Oikawa sighed, but closed his eyes and leaned his head against Iwaizumi’s chest. “Thank you, Iwa-chan. I don’t get how you always manage to make me find hope, even in situations like these.”_ _

_ _Iwaizumi huffed and hugged him closer. “That’s kind of my job, isn’t it?”_ _

_ _“I thought your job was to keep me safe.”_ _

_ _“This _is_ keeping you safe, stupid.”_ _

_ _They sat like this for a while, just holding each other and Iwaizumi wished he could keep doing this forever, to just wrap his arms around Oikawa and protect him from this cruel world.  
And he knew he’d never be able to, that all affectionate touches could only happen behind closed doors and all personal words could only be whispered, but he’d rather burn the heavens down before he gave up on Oikawa._ _

_ _He’d keep him safe, no matter the costs._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess what babes, I'm back on schedule just in time for the end of October! (it's partly cheating because I turned this one into a two-shot instead of a one-shot, but sue me)
> 
> This was my first omegaverse story ever, so bear with me on the sloppy worldbuilding.
> 
> Please leave some love xx


	30. "I'm with you, you know that."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Prince Oikawa makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Trigger Warnings**
> 
> Attempted Rape/Non-Con and Swearing

It had been two weeks since Prince Oikawa Tooru had presented as an omega, and somehow he had managed to convince his mother to let him stay.  
He still had no idea how exactly he had managed to pull that off, but it had worked, and that was all that mattered for now, because even though his position was anything but secure, he could work from here, just as Iwaizumi had said.

His mother barely talked to him anymore these days. All her hopes for having a strong alpha son to be her heir had shattered, and there was no place in her life for an omega, Oikawa knew that.  
It stung, a lot, but he and his mother had never been particularly close, so that burden was the lightest to carry. What he feared much more was what she was planning.

She never consulted him about it, of course, it wasn’t like he had a say in any of these matters anyways, but not knowing what she was up to made him queasy.

He spent most of his days with Iwaizumi now, always with the excuse of needing a personal escort now that the whole kingdom knew about his secondary gender and there were probably hundreds of people who had it out for him, but in reality he was just glad to have his best friend by his side.

Iwaizumi had been with him ever since they had been kids, and after getting knighted a few years back, they had been inseparable. To everyone else, they kept up pretenses of nothing more than a formal business relationship, but when the doors closed and they were alone, the two of them often found themselves cuddled up on Oikawa’s bed in a not-so-formal manner.  
And now in these difficult times, Iwaizumi stood by his side as he always did.

This day though, Iwaizumi had been called in for some guard duty business, and Oikawa spent the time sulking in his room, as he did a lot these days. Going out without Iwaizumi by his side just didn’t feel safe anymore.  
But here was only so much time he could spend reading the same books over and over again, or watching the guards practice in the yard from his window, so when noon rolled around, he was positively bored out of his mind.

Finally, there was a knock on his door, and he jumped up from his bed, rushing over to the door to open it for Iwaizumi. He had already opened his mouth to whine about how boring his day had been, when his brain registered that it wasn’t Iwaizumi who was standing in front of his door.  
It was his mother, and next to her a stranger who was grinning at him in a way he did not appreciate. An alpha, he noted.

He inclined his head in a respectful manner. “Mother.” When he looked up again, his mother was looking at him with an intent gaze, and he didn’t like one bit of it. “May I ask who your companion is?”

“This is Lord Nakamura, who administrates the western region of our lands. You might have met him before, but were probably to young to remember.”

Once again, Oikawa inclined his head, but avoided speaking to the stranger directly. “Did you want something, mother?”

“Yes dear, Lord Nakamura is here to get to know you better. He’s interested in courting you, and I told him I’d make him acquainted.”

Oikawa laughed nervously, and he could feel his heartbeat speeding up. This was not good news. “Here in my chambers? I’m barely presentable, mylord. Give me ten minutes time, and I will meet you downstairs in the reception room.”

But the alpha seemed to have other plans, it seemed, he took a step forward, still grinning. “Oh no, I don’t mind at all.”

“Forgive me, mylord, but this is hardly appropriate,” Oikawa said and sent his mother an incredulous look. She couldn’t really agree to this, could she? But to his horror, she just smiled.  
“Now, now, Tooru, don’t be so rude towards our guest. Show him that bookshelf you always talk about, why don’t you.”  
And with that, she all but pushed the stranger past him, smirking at Oikawa one last time before slamming the door shut behind them and leaving her son in a daze as he stared up at the alpha in his room.

“You are as beautiful as ever, Oikawa-sama,” the stranger purred, making Oikawa take a step back instinctively.

“Thank you, mylord. Though if you gave me some time to dress properly for your visit, I’m sure-”

“No need for that,” the alpha interrupted and stepped closer until he was directly in front of Oikawa.  
He was huge, Oikawa thought, as he looked up into the malicious eyes. He was rather tall himself and not used to looking up to people, so this made him even more uneasy. Also, he did not appreciate being interrupted, or cornered, for that matter.

“Mylord, I’d appreciate it if-”

“_Sit down on the bed_.”

The words hit him like an arrow, pierced his throat and choked up every word on his tongue. His body flinched, and only then did he realize that this had been an alpha command.  
“How- how dare you?!” he choked out, fighting his body that was trying to comply with the order it had been given. Since he hadn’t had his first heat yet, he wasn’t fully affected by alpha commands yet, but damn, it was hard to fight.

“_Sit. Down._”

This time, the words came with such force that he couldn’t fight them, his legs just gave in on their own and he dropped down onto the bed. A nauseating feeling was settling in his stomach.  
“You will pay for this.”

“I don’t think so. The queen asked me to court you, after all. _Stay._”

Oikawa almost cried out when the force of yet another command hit him. “This is not courting,” he wheezed, and his breathing hitched when the man stepped in front of him. “Stop.”

“Such beauty,” the man sighed and reached out to touch Oikawa’s cheek. The command forced Oikawa to stay, but still he was able to slap the man’s hand away.  
The alpha merely chuckled though. “I was told you would put up a fight. An omega with an alpha’s pride, it’s as rare as an omega with royal blood. Look at you, all gorgeous and strong, if I didn’t know better I would have never taken you as an omega. I’m glad though, as this means I will get to make you mine.”

“You can’t!” Oikawa yelled, his body twitching to get up and run, but he couldn’t. “Get away from me!”

But the alpha came even closer, grabbing Oikawa by the arms. “Put up a fight, omega, I like it that way. But by the end of the night, I will have claimed you.”

Oikawa tried to push him away, but that was easier said than done when he couldn’t move from where he was sitting, his mind desperately clawing at the command that kept him in place.  
To his horror, the man pushed him backwards, pinning him to the bed underneath his own body.  
“Stop,” Oikawa wheezed, panic seizing him. “Get off me!”

But the alpha didn’t even bother replying anymore. Impatient hands started ripping at Oikawa’s shirt, tearing the expensive fabric, and Oikawa could feel the chilly air hitting his exposed skin.  
“So pure,” the alpha hummed and his hands traveled up and down Oikawa’s sides, sending shivers of disgust through his body.  
He fought the man best as he could, squirming and kicking, but not only did the stranger have the advantage of his alpha commands, he was also much bigger and heavier than Oikawa himself.

“I’ll make you mine,” he purred into his ear, and Oikawa cried out, kicking with his leg once again, hoping to hit anything, something to give him a way out of this.  
“Keep struggling, omega, I knew you were a fighter.”

“Let me go!” It was no use, the man was way too strong, and he was kissing Oikawa’s exposed neck now and heavens, he wanted to cry.

“There’s no way out, I might even make it enjoyable for you if you behave,” the lord murmured, continuing to suck on Oikawa’s neck, getting his disgusting scent all over him, _marking_ him as if he was a possession and as if he had any right at all to do this.  
Oikawa clawed at everything his hands could reach, his mind was battling the command that kept pressing into his brain, and he wished for someone, _anyone_, to come and help him out of this.

And automatically, his thoughts conjured up a face in his mind.  
Iwaizumi.

In a sudden surge of strength, Oikawa lashed out and elbowed the alpha above him in the throat. The other made a surprised choking noise and fell to the side, grasping at his throat, but before he had any chance to react more, Oikawa lashed out again, harder this time and left his attacker gasping for air.

Getting up from the bed took the most strenuous effort he had ever put up, but whenever the alpha command was trying to infiltrate his mind, he focused his thoughts on Iwaizumi and pushed everything else aside.  
He was on his feet in mere second, and the alpha grasped for him, but he pushed the hand away and ran.

Throwing his door open, he bolted into the hallway and towards the staircases, down the halls and out of the castle.   
He didn’t stop once to look behind him, he just ran and ran until he reached the guards’ training grounds where he could already see Iwaizumi instructing a group of new recruits in sword fighting, and many eyes turned his way when he approached them.

Iwaizumi furrowed his brows at the sudden lack of concentration among his students, and when he turned around to follow their gazes, his eyes grew wide.  
“Take a break,” he barked at the group. “If I’m not back soon, tell Yahaba-san to take over the instruction.”

And then he ran, meeting Oikawa halfway and caught him around the waist when Oikawa all but collapsed into his arms. “Iwa-chan,” he choked out, and couldn’t hold back the sobs anymore, tears finally spilling over as the shock settled in.  
“Come on,” Iwaizumi growled. “Let’s get you inside.”  
He dragged Oikawa past the group of recruits who eyed them with curious gazes, but quickly turned away when Iwaizumi glared at them. They entered the little house next to the training grounds where the changing rooms and training weapons storages were, and Iwaizumi opened a door that led into a small office room - _his_ office.

Oikawa let the feeling of familiarity wash over him, soaked up the many happy memories he had of this place, and it calmed him a little, though the sobs were still wrecking his body.  
“Here.” Iwaizumi sat him down in one of the chairs that were placed in front of the desk. “Breathe, you’re okay.”

He sat down across from him, taking his hands into his own, but as the adrenaline faded slightly, the alpha command came back, barging through the doors of Oikawa’s mind and he groaned, fighting the urge to get up and get back.  
Gripping Iwaizumi’s hands tightly, he hunched over, desperately trying to push back the feeling of nausea as he remained rooted in his seat.

“Are you hurt?” Iwaizumi asked in a concerned tone, but Oikawa shook his head desperately, gripping his hands even tighter.

Iwaizumi inched closer, taking in Oikawa’s state, the ripped shirt, the tears, the… he sniffed the air. “Is that…” His eyes grew wide. “Are you fighting an alpha command right now?!”

“Yes,” Oikawa sobbed, stomping his foot into the ground as if he could somehow take root here, as if he could grow into the earth and not have to go back to that horrible, horrible man…

Iwaizumi gripped his face, making him look up at him and Oikawa could barely make out anything through the tears. He heard Iwaizumi's booming voice very clearly though as he growled, “_You don’t have to obey._”

And just like that, the pressure in his head left. As if he had been in a room that had been stripped of all oxygen and now it just came flooding back, the first breath Oikawa took was deliberating.  
The tension left his body, the grip on Iwaizumi’s hands loosened, and another sob escaped his lips, but it was one of relief.

“You okay?” Iwaizumi asked quietly, and Oikawa nodded, freeing one of his hands to wipe at the tears that were still streaming down his face. Iwaizumi watched him. “What happened?”  
The horror if the incident was still so present in Oikawa’s mind that when he opened his mouth to answer, no words found their way out at first.   
But Iwaizumi squeezed his hand reassuringly. “I’m with you, you know that. I’ll keep you safe.”

“She tried to sell me off,” Oikawa sobbed. “My mother. She brought an alpha to my room to claim me so I couldn’t object to a marriage anymore.”

Iwaizumi’s face grew stone-cold. “Did he…?”

“No,” Oikawa said and rubbed at his unmarked neck. “But he tried. He commanded me to stay, and he- he… but I was terrified, and I didn’t have my heat yet so I guess that’s why I could fight the command a bit.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Iwaizumi growled.

“You can’t. My mother is protecting him.”

“I don’t care. I’ll rip him to shreds!”

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa raised his voice, snapping the other out of his bloodlust, then added more quietly, “I can’t lose you, please.”

That brought Iwaizumi back to reality, and he sighed. “Sorry. But what do you plan on doing now? You can’t just go back, she’ll do it again.”

“Claim me.”

Iwaizumi blinked. “What?”

“Claim me. She can’t make another alpha do it if your mark is already there.”

He hadn’t really thought about it before, but now that the idea was in his head, it started to sound like a foolproof plan.  
Iwaizumi didn’t seem to think so, though.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Why not?”

“You’re _crown prince_. I’m barely allowed to touch you in public, what do you think would happen if you were wearing my mark? I’d be lucky if I only got exiled for soiling a royal family member.”

Oikawa considered this for a moment. “Marry me, then.”

“What?!”

“You heard me. You can’t get executed for marking me if we’re engaged.”

“You really are starting to sound delusional-”

“Please, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa interrupted and squeezed Iwaizumi’s hand. “Please.”

But Iwaizumi still looked unsure. “The bite is permanent, Oikawa. What if one day you find someone…”

“I’ve been in love with you for years,” Oikawa blurted out. “And I think you feel the same. I’m not stupid, Iwa-chan, we were not only way too close as prince and guard, but also as friends. Or am I wrong?”

Their eyes met, Iwaizumi’s green ones wide in shock. 

Then, he slowly shook his head. “No. But still, there was a reason we never acted on it, and you know that. If we marry, you lose everything. You know that an omega takes the alpha's status in marriage, not the other way around.”

“I don’t care,” Oikawa whispered. “I already lost everything. There’s no place for me in this kingdom anymore, Iwa-chan, but I don’t care, I really don’t. Please take me away from here.”

Iwaizumi cocked his head, and slowly reached up to cup Oikawa’s cheek with his hand. “You know that we might have to leave the kingdom. I don’t think I’ll be able to uphold this position when your mother finds out.”

Oikawa lowered his gaze. “I’m asking too much…”

But to his surprise, Iwaizumi pulled him closer, so close that their faces were directly in front of each other. “I’ll do it, Oikawa, heavens know I want to, but… are you really okay with this? Because if you have the slightest doubt…”

Oikawa closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Iwaizumi’s. The other froze for a second, before slowly beginning to kiss back and Oikawa hummed contentedly.  
When they pulled apart again, he asked quietly, “Is that answer enough?”

“You’re serious about this?” Iwaizumi asked, and Oikawa pulled him closer in response and exposed his neck.

Iwaizumi growled at the scent the other alpha had left there. “To think he had the audacity to even _touch_ you…”

“Don’t think about him,” Oikawa said. “Once I’m yours, he won’t be able to do anything anymore.”

Iwaizumi nodded. “You know this bite isn’t a mating bite, just a claim. We’ll need to find a priest to marry us as soon as possible, or your mother might try to keep us apart until the bite heals.”

“We’ll go directly to the chapel, the priest should be there,” Oikawa replied and buried one hand in Iwaizumi’s hair, the other was still holding Iwaizumi’s own.

The latter hummed and kissed Oikawa’s neck briefly. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Oikawa replied.  
And Iwaizumi sunk his teeth into spot between Oikawa’s neck and right shoulder. 

He gasped and gripped onto his hand, but… yes, it hurt, of course, but it wasn’t exactly unpleasant. It was more like a tingling sensation going through his whole body, and as Iwaizumi pulled his teeth out, a sigh escaped Oikawa’s lips.

Iwaizumi mustered him intently. “Are you okay?”

“I’m great,” Oikawa replied and stood up, feeling a bit dizzy, but still able to stand without complications. He squeezed Iwaizumi’s hand. “Let’s go to the chapel.”

Iwaizumi rose as well, wrapping an arm around Oikawa’s waist and pulling him close. “I promised to keep you safe, and even if your mother strips me of knighthood, that promise will not change. I’ll always protect you, okay?”

Even though Oikawa had just lost his status, his home and all ties he had left to his family… somehow he didn’t remember ever feeling this happy before. Being here, being with Iwaizumi, it just felt right.  
And therefore, he smiled.

“Let’s get married, Hajime.”

They got married and exiled all in the same night, and left Aoba Johsai with nothing but the shirts on their backs and guards on their heels.  
But despite losing everything, they were as free as never before - and most importantly, they had each other.

The kingdom of Nekoma welcomed them with open arms, and Oikawa thought that maybe, just maybe it hadn’t been so bad that he had presented as an omega.   
Who knew where he would be right now as an alpha prince - certainly not in one Iwaizumi Hajime’s arms, watching the sun set over their new home. 

And as they kissed beneath the stars, he was certain that this was the happiest he could possibly ever be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got waaaaay too much into this AU, and it definitely turned out longer than I planned... but that seems to be my trend lately, oops.
> 
> Don't worry about the boys, Nekoma is treating them right, and I'd like to imagine that Oikawa knew Kuroo from when they were younger because they were both crown princes and now when Kuroo hears Oikawa is refugee in his kingdom he's like "boiii let's have a reunion" and they all become friends.  
But yeah, that really didn't fit into this prompt anymore.
> 
> Please leave some love in form of kudos and/or comments xx


	31. "Scared, me?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which Oikawa found happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Important announcement:**
> 
> The amazing Sarah (@sgergaud.dsg on instagram) is blessing me with artwork that is inspired by these prompts, if you go to the end of chapter 1 you can already see the first one!

“Oikawa!”

Oikawa had just exited the changing rooms to follow the rest of his team, but the voice shouting his name made him stop and turn around. He would recognize that voice anywhere.

“Iwa-chan, you made it!”

Iwaizumi came to halt in front of him. He was slightly out of breath since he had probably run all the way to get back here.

“Of course I made it, idiot, I promised to see you off, didn’t I?”

Oikawa smiled. He knew Iwaizumi always kept his promises, but it’d be a lie to say he hadn’t been worried when the clock showed he had merely ten more minutes before he had to get out into the gym. Seeing him here now was a big relief.

“You certainly did. So? How do I look?” Oikawa spread his arms to give him a good look on the jersey he was wearing.

Iwaizumi huffed. “Red suits you.”

“Aw, thanks Iwa-chan! You’re totally right of course, I should have gone to Nekoma.”

“Don’t let Ushijima-san hear that, he might get jealous.”

Oikawa just rolled his eyes. “Ushiwaka-chan can bite me.”

But Iwaizumi cuffed him on the head, earning himself a whine. “Concentrate, Shittykawa, you have a match to play and in case you haven’t noticed, you’re on the same team now. I thought you were getting along?”

“We are,” Oikawa sighed. “But he’s still convinced I threw away my chance to go to nationals.”

“Who cares? You have _inter_nationals to worry about now.”

Smiling, Oikawa wrapped an arm around Iwaizumi’s waist. “That’s the spirit, Iwa-chan. But I don’t care, either way, because I know I made all the right choices, otherwise I wouldn’t be here right now. Everything I did - _we_ did - brought me here, so why on earth would I regret any of that?”

“Damn right. How long until you have to go?”

Oikawa threw a glance at the clock hanging behind them in the hallway. “Like five minutes.”

Iwaizumi hummed and pulled him a bit closer so their faces were inches away from each other. He had to crane his neck a bit to look Oikawa in the eye, but after all these years he had grown used to it.

“You scared?”

Oikawa laughed. “Scared, me? Please, I was born for this.”

“I know that, Trashykawa.”

Back in high school, Oikawa had always been nervous about matches, even though he had never let it on. Most people just took in his confident aura and assumed nothing in this world could shake him, especially not something like a volleyball match. Oikawa was powerful, and that was often associated with confidence.  
But Iwaizumi knew about the endless nights of fretting over the smallest details, he knew about Oikawa staying in the gym hours after practice had ended the day before a match, he knew about him spending a massive amount of time hunched over his laptop, analyzing the matches of his opponents over and over again.  
Oikawa had never been unshakable.

But he also had grown a lot since high school. He was still a perfectionist, sure, and Iwaizumi still had to beat some sense into him from time to time when he started picking up his tendencies to over-train again, but the anxious need to prove himself had faded with time. The grudge he held against certain opponents had given way for mutual respect, and he had put aside the whole feud with Ushijima as well - not only since they were on the same team now, but also because he recognized how pointless it was to antagonize the other. Sure, Ushijima had his quirks, but he wasn’t out to hurt Oikawa. In fact, they had learned that he was actually a pretty decent guy - with a very weird and dry sense of humor, granted, but a decent guy nevertheless and they had even started to hang out outside of volleyball.

So Iwaizumi wasn’t worried. He knew Oikawa had matured, he knew he wouldn’t completely destroy himself over the smallest things anymore, and that really gave Iwaizumi some peace. It was all he had ever wanted for his boyfriend, after all, to live his dream without constantly being on the brink of a mental breakdown.  
Oikawa was happy, and that was honestly the best thing in the world.

“Do your best out there,” Iwaizumi murmured and pressed his lips to Oikawa’s briefly. “And remember I’m up in the stands watching you.”

Iwaizumi himself had chosen not to pursue playing volleyball professionally as a career, and he had gone off to college instead to study sports medicine. Even though he continued playing on the university team - alongside Kuroo, who was studying something related to chemistry and biology that Iwaizumi didn’t even try to understand anymore at the same university - it had felt strange in the beginning. He hadn’t been used to playing without Oikawa, and they really had had to pull themselves together as a team, but after a while it had started working.

And as for the other way around, Oikawa himself had had some struggles as well at the beginning of his professional career, the biggest one being that his toss always had gone too low whenever he had felt cornered - a toss that was hard to hit for the tall wing spiker on his team, because it was meant to suit a shorter one. A certain someone that was approximately 179.3 centimeters tall, as a matter of fact. But as time passed, he had worked it all out, and nowadays he was in his very best form.

“Well,” Oikawa smiled, “I’ll put on a show worth watching then.”

Iwaizumi kissed him once again, and then stepped back. “You should get going. Can’t have you be late for your first match as an official starter.”

Oikawa grinned. “I arrive precisely when I mean to.”

“Get out of here before I make you. And no more Lord of the Rings references.”

Laughing, Oikawa turned and started walking down the hallway to get to his team, twisting around halfways to wave at Iwaizumi. “Bye, Iwa-chan. I better _hear_ you on those stands.”

“You better get that first serve in, or I’m not treating you to dinner tonight.”

“Rude!”

Iwaizumi chuckled and turned around himself to return to the stands. Oikawa would be just fine, no matter how this match ended.

Makki and Mattsun were already waiting for Iwaizumi when he returned, and Makki waved him over to where they had saved him a seat.

“Well?” he asked, wriggling his eyebrows. “Got some pre-match makeout done?”

Iwaizumi just rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Oooh, do you hear that Mattsun, they totally did!”

“We did not,” Iwaizumi growled and kicked Makki’s shin slightly. “And now shut it, they’ll come out any minute.”

Makki sighed. “Do you feel famous now that you’re dating a celebrity, Iwa-san?”

“I feel compelled to punch you in the nose, but that’s about it.”

“They’re coming out!” Mattsun interrupted, and just a heartbeat later the stands erupted in loud cheers as the teams walked out. The three of them joined in, and Iwaizumi spotted Oikawa immediately, waving and grinning. _I was born for this_, he had said, and Iwaizumi knew he was right. This right here, being in the spotlight, being cheered on and celebrated, drawing in all the attention, this was right were Oikawa belonged.

“Gosh,” Makki choked out, “can you believe this is actually happening? Just look at him, they grow up so fast.”

For a second Iwaizumi thought Makki was just joking around, until he actually looked at the other and saw that his eyes were actually shimmering. “Are you crying, Makki?”

“Shut up, let me be emotional.”

Iwaizumi snorted. “And they called _me_ team mom.”

The teams started warming up, and at some point Oikawa spotted them in the crowd, flashing a huge grin and waved up to them. He looked so confident, so excited and full of energy and Iwaizumi wished the look on his face would never vanish again. They stood for the anthems, and then the starting orders were announced, one player after the other jogging onto the court. When Oikawa’s name was called, the three of them cheered the loudest and Iwaizumi could swear Oikawa’s grin grew bigger at that.

The referee tossed the coin, and Iwaizumi held his breath as it fell in Japan’s favor. Japan’s team captain nodded and said something, and seconds later the referee gave a sign that Japan would serve first, and Iwaizumi could feel his heart beat starting to pick up. Surely enough, the ball was handed to Oikawa, and his grin made way for a concentrated expression.

It was only then, when Oikawa walked behind the line and smacked the ball against the floor once, twice, catching it up again in his hands, that Iwaizumi was hit by realization. As Makki had said, it was hard to believe this was actually happening, but also, it wasn’t hard at all.

Oikawa standing down there on the court, wearing Japan’s national jersey proudly, getting ready to serve and start the match - this was exactly how it was always supposed to be, and Iwaizumi felt his chest contract, but not in a bad way, no, it was sheer happiness. And maybe, just maybe, he started to tear up a little too.

It was as if the whole arena held their breath when the whistle sounded, and then Oikawa took a step forward and threw the ball into the air, moving graceful as a cat when he leapt after it, feet pushing off the floor, soaring towards the ball and then a powerful smacking sound rang through the arena.

The serve scored the first point of that match, and Iwaizumi fell in love all over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here's the last prompt for Fictober, delivered to you in the middle of November - but hey, things happen.
> 
> I love me some Oikawa character growth, he deserves all the happiness in the world! And if Oiks is happy, then Iwa is happy, and if the boys are happy then I am too!
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me and if you want to stay posted on what I'm up to, feel free to head over to my Instagram account (@streetsoldierin). There's also updates on a long Iwaoi fic I'm writing and hopefully will start posting in December, so stay tuned!
> 
> Thank you for all the support, and now for a very last time on this work: leaving kudos and/or comments will make my entire day!  
Cheers babes, see you around! xx


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